APPROACHING NOON - PART 1

When I first moved to Hong Kong in the mid 1980's I could scarcely believe that I was actually there! It had been a dream of mine for so long. Each new day was an adventure as I explored the districts around where I was staying in Kowloon. I then had the great fortune to meet someone who suggested visiting the out-lying islands so the next day saw me on a ferry to Lamma Island. The closer I got to the island, the more certain I was that I would live there and within a week I was! Life back then seemed to be idyllic - I would rise early and explore the island watching birds and butterflies, drawing nature in my sketchbooks and swimming in the sea.
I first came upon this shrine almost by accident as it was off the main walkway through the island but in an older area that had caught my eye some time before. I did some sketches on site then moved on to other things. Much later, here in my studio I came across those earlier works and decided to do a larger watercolor of the scene. Well that was a few years ago and the painting has sat at home here for some time before I recently decided to finish it off. Up to this point, the painting had been developed as seen above except for the horizontal decorative strip just under the eaves which was worked on last week. I can't find an earlier photo of this work in progress so this series of posts will have to start with the painting developed up to this point.  Basically I had built up the work using successive washes of color as usual keeping in mind my initial ideas and focal point. It seemed to be going okay so far but I realized that  lot of work was still to come.....