I have finally had time to finish the boat painting, who's progress I have been charting in this blog. Only very occasionally do I finish a painting and know that it has worked as I wanted it to - less than 5% of the time I would say. This new painting falls into the 95% bracket which means I will have to stand back a bit and then re-assess it. Robert, I ended up using burnt sienna and raw sienna as you suggested but I added touches of cobalt and a mix of cobalt and alizarin. Sound weird I know but I feel it does work. The sky - mmm yes - the sky....... well I went for a blustery sky with some movement in it to counteract the very calm beach. Time will tell (and viewer reaction) if this was a good decision. In most of my boat painting I usually can fudge the issue by adding lots of flotsam and jetsam and the trapping of the fisherman's paraphernalia which adds interest, colour and excitement. In this painting there is none of that so the boats have to stand or fall on their own merits. I did decide to put a couple of old tyres in the foreground and outside the pencil line which frames the work. I rather like this look I have to say as I feel it stops the painting feeling shut in and constrained. I will photograph the painting tomorrow (after a stern re-assessment!) and post it if I feel it won't seriously scupper the gallery's reputation.