swans and boats at Christchurch harbour,UK

Swans and Boats at Christchurch harbour,UK.

This painting was based on a photograph taken back in the summer of 2010 at Christchurch Quay/harbour, in Dorset,UK. It actually took ages to paint, not because on any technical difficulty but because of having to prepare other work for exhibitions, print cards and do commercial computer imagery. So this painting was started back in late july 2011 and left unfinished until the early part of sept 2011. I did not latterly enjoy doing it and found it a battle to get it looking reasonably ok. Maybe it was the composition that was wrong? I have to say that when the painting was photographed it tends to look a lot better, and does seem very sunny. Painted in oils on canvas,16"x20".

from the website...
This artwork was painted in oils on a canvas measuring 16" x 20". The location is the pretty town of Christchurch, Dorset, in the UK, on the popular quay populated with many tourists, and swans and ducks, as it has been for centuries. It was based on a photograph taken back in the summer of 2009, though the actual swans are from other photos taken at the same time and repositioned in photoshop. From this final photoshop composition a drawing is produced and this then becomes the start of the painting. Normally such a painting would take about 4 days, spread over two or three weeks. But on this occassion I became very busy after starting, that it was several months before I finished it. I did not like doing it in the latter stages as my original interest had wained, but was determined to finish it, as I never like to have uncompleted pictures around. Overall it is quite pleasant and it does give the feeling of a sunny day. Other pictures of swans of Christchurch are top be found here on this site.