Dreary-scapes

I'm picking up from last summer where I left these two paintings.  I'm calling them "dreary-scapes," based on the subject matter and the application of the paint.  I'm applying layer after layer of washes (pigment watered down with turpentine) on top of a solid base coat.  I'm finding it a little difficult to get the look that I really want; I'm realizing that it may take more layering than I anticipated.  I fear that if I layer too much, however, it will look too washed out. I'm having fun experimenting.

The gondola painting is inspired by the ambience of Eastern State Penitentiary (photographed below).  I wanted to create a painting called River Man, one of my favorite Nick Drake songs, and ESP seemed like a nice backdrop for a gondola driver.  Is this an after-life scene?  Is this a commentary on an inner-struggle? Read into it, if you like. 

The staircase painting is based on a photograph that I took at the Poe House in Philadelphia. Park Service Rangers romanticize that this cellar inspired the burial scene in Black Cat.