"theClockwork Man- the Jersey Shore statue guy" -painting by dkeil (Doug Keil)

"theClockwork Man- the Jersey Shore statue guy"  painting by dkeil (Douglas Keil)   9.5x13.5 in

I rode my motorcycle down the Shore over the weekend.
The weather was nice but my head hurt and I needed to get out of town.
There's nothing quite like the Parkway on a summer evening to straighten out a muddy head. If you're not on point, it won't be for long, because people have no concept of kindness on the Parkway.
So, needless to say, I got in the zone and ended up with my feet in the sand.

I brought a watercolor pad, my sketching box, and tin of Winsor Newton watercolors.
I've been giving watercolors a chance again though I'm not a big fan of the medium.
The first painting of the day bombed royally. Uggh. It was horrible.
I felt like I was ten. It just didn't work.
The composition wasn't all bad, it was the watercolors.
Of course the sun setting and my blindly mixing colors didn't help much either.
 I did see a great sunset though.

I don't give up easily.
I just couldn't live with myself after painting the worst sunset ever; I needed resolution, redemption.
A walk up the boardwalk to Asbury Park cleared my head to try something else.
Right at the beginning of the boardwalk in Asbury is the amazing Watermark establishment, an incredible example of interior design that I discovered only a week ago, despite the similarities with the Kyma Restaurant that I did design and finishes for last year.
I figured a Tom Collins could help things along.
I never made it to the Watermark on account of Clockworkman. 
Here's his facebook page.

I walked right past clockworkman as I'm sort of creeped out by the clown/mime schtick and I was going to do some architectural sketching and painting, but as I glanced back over my shoulder, the light fell so perfectly on the guy that I stopped in my tracks.
Seriously great lighting. I turned around and dropped my pack against the fence to the beach, sat down and decided to start with a sketch. I gave him some money out of respect for his art and within a half our I had one of the best sketches I've done in a while. All the while, the guy was bankrolling. Even ifhis gig is a street performance that requires good weather and has a short season, he brought in more than enough American currency to make it time well spent (artistically.)  I was astounded at how many people participated in his act and contributed, yet he kindly returned to the same stance and pose so I could record the night on paper. Mr. Clockworkman was indeed a performer and a gentleman.

I decided not to ink the graphite drawing and, instead, to give the watercolors another go. It turned out well enough. I took the plein air watercolor out yesterday and finished up the painting with acrylic glazes. I'm pretty happy with it now, which is why I decided to share it with the world.
Let me know what you think.

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