Tuesday 27 October 2015

Boat Yard 01 WIP

BOAT YARD 01 wip

boat yard painting 01 at Shamrock Quay northam
Acrylic painting WIP boat yard 01
This image shows a work in progress on a painting of the stern of a boat laid up at Shamrock Marina, Southampton. The River Itchen would be behind the viewer. It is a 20" x 16" painting, done in acrylics on an old canvas I had lying around, one of a number that needed to be used up. I had tried to do a sketch originally on my Surface pro Tablet but although I did manage to do a sketch it proved difficult to do because of the daylight shining on to the screen so you could not see what you were doing. I went back the following day and took a photograph of the scene with the plan of doing a painting anyway. You can see the three stages involved with the final result on the last panel. I tend to work from a red ground for most of my paintings. I tried to keep it quite loose but I found myself getting to use ever smaller brushes for the details to show the construction of the vessel. It is still quite loose for me however and does skip some details. The painting was done in late September 2015, my first painting at this size for about a year.
The finished painting can be seen here
#boat #painting #industry #WIP #art

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Bitterne Boats Southampton


Bitterne Boats Southampton
southampton bitterne river itchen painting
Bitterne Boats Southampton acrylic painting

This painting shows a view of a number of boats, some of them wrecks, on the River Itchen in Southampton, Hampshire. It is based on a number of photographs taken from Northam Bridge and looking toward the hilly suburb of Bitterne. The time is a summer evening with calm waters and the tide going out from this tidal estuary section of the river, revealing a land of mud and algae, and long lost sunken boats. The late evening light gives the scene a slight golden glow.
The painting is done in acrylics on a canvas board measuring 20” x 16”, and was painted in autumn 2014.

#boats #art #marine #Hampshire #Southampton

Wednesday 7 October 2015

old propeller acrylic painting WIP

Old propeller acrylic painting WIP

This image shows a WIP of a small painting, 8” x 10” of a propeller on a boat undergoing restoration. I had done a small digital sketch about 2 weeks earlier here, but this was to be a painting done in acrylics. The initial stage of the painting in red ground with the drawing traced out in brown acrylic paint is on the left. In the middle is a halfway stage with most of the elements in the scene blocked in with some acrylic paint. The right hand image shows the finished painting. I intended to do the painting quite loosely so I used quite largish brushes on this small canvas to stop me from getting in to details with little brushes. Dominant brush strokes and dabs of colour was the intention here. I spent about 4 hours painting the image, after about ½ hour drawing out the subject.
#boat #art #painting #boatyard #propeller
acrylic painting in stages boat propeller
WIP boat propeller painting

Sunday 4 October 2015

Digital sketch of Shamrock Quay, Southampton

Digital sketch of Shamrock Quay

This small digital was done one Friday evening in late September when there was an unexpected Indian summer bathing the country in fine sunny weather. I took my little stool and the surface pro computer with me, to sketch this little scene from Shamrock Quay, in Southampton, looking over the River Itchen toward Bittern on the other side. The weather was pleasant and I was hoping the later in the day lighting conditions may enable me to look at the screen more clearly on the Surface pro's glossy screen, a constant problem with out door digital art work. Sadly it made no difference and I still could not see exactly what I was doing, but something did come out at the end of the day. I think the sketch does give a little of the atmosphere of the late afternoon light just beginning to darken for the evening. Boats sitting on water are eternally appealing anyway.The software used on the tablet was 'Auto Sketchbook pro'.
#digital #sketchbookpro #hampshire #boats #art
Shamrock Quay southampton summer evening digital drawing life
digital sketch of Shamrock Quay summer evening