Sea Study. 5x7, oil and cold wax medium on linen panel 2016
When I was 5 or 6 I went through a period of painting nothing but boats on the ocean, usually with a small island thrown in for good measure. I'm not sure why I felt this was such a compelling subject, but I suspect that it had something to do with trips to the seaside (an exciting time when you're a kid).
When I saw yachts sailing in Puget Sound the other day I wanted to see how 52 year old me would render one of them in paint. The idea is a bit cliche, of course, but some solid design went into this picture: four big shapes of increasing area each with different values, a limited color palette, some nice edges, and temperature variation (in the sky, at least). Finally, and most importantly, there's the the juxtaposition of the light triangle against the dark rectangle.
All of that's a bit beyond what I might have comprehended at age 6, I have moved on in some ways since then, but strangely enough it was really fun to paint a boat again just for the hell of it.