Swimmers below Corte

Although I didn't paint when we were on hols, I did of course take lots of pics. The one this painting is based on was taken looking down from the Citadel in Corte  - where we huffed and puffed up to on  on a ridiculously hot day. The kids in the river below had the right idea.

 Now personally I don't think that's too too bad a start after a long gap in painting. My own assessment of where I'm at: I think I'm okay at colour mixing mostly, I think I'm okay at getting some light and dark , or tone or whatever. I think where some of the problem lies is just in how to approach putting paint on the darned board - thickness of paint, brushstrokes, how big, what direction, how much paint, which ones first etc. I was sort of okay on the rocks and trees on top I think - I just went for it, blobbed it down and it's alright. I faffed, fussed and fretted over the water though, and worse, I went back in this morning , with - crime of crimes - a small brush - and fussed and faffed some more. And I think it shows. I have a feeling that it is only practice that will help there.

On the whole though, I'm not unhappy with it, and there are bits I think worked okay. I think.

Had to edit - I mixed up my place names - this was in Corte, not in  Bastia - Corte is right in the middle of Corsica, in the heart of the extremely stunning mountains. Very striking citadel.