Barbados Stairway

I've really been dragging out the old travel photos lately. I've always been attracted to this scene. I tried to paint it years ago in watercolor. That painting was about 30" x 48". I got some base colors on it, decided my greens were too vivid (thalo green, ugh, a killer) and let it sit. After about 3 years I decided to try to salvage it but unfortunately I had left some resist on it which tends to become part of the paper after that long. Oh well. I now have a lot of practice paper.

This photo was taken while we were in Barbados on a cruise probably 20 years ago. We got off of the ship and asked a taxi driver to take us someplace nice to spend the day. He dropped us off at a quaint hotel that overlooks a beautiful bay. These are the steps that lead from the pool area down to a beautiful, secluded beach. It was a wonderful day and I'm glad I finally have finished a painting of the spot. One of the details that I love about this photo is that there is a bent twig holding the door open at the top of the steps. It doesn't really show in this photo and should probably show more in the painting so I may have to enhance that. When I paint the view from the top looking down it will show more because the twig will be in the foreground rather than the background. I wonder how long it will take before I get that one painted.

Barbados Stairway

Image Size 24" x 8"

Oil