Night Moorings

 

Night Moorings

(Acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 12 in)

Finished today. This was one of those times when I begin to question if the photograph I'm using as subject matter is just a good photograph and not really suitable as painting subject matter. But I persevered, made changes (mostly to the sky) and ended with something I find satisfactory.

Boats at Night WIP

 

Boats at Night WIP

(Acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 12 in)

After a holiday break, it’s good to get back to some painting, but I’m never happy when I have to break off at this scrubby stage. I always doubt the viability of the subject or composition. “Boats” was this week’s suggested theme at the Art Club, continuing next week.

Boats in Harbour

Boats in Harbour

(Acrylic on watercolour paper, 12x12 in)

Another painting begun some months ago, finished off at Gateshead Art Society yesterday.

In the Boatyard

In the Boatyard
(acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm)

Three days work, off and on, to get this done. There were boats on the water and another figure, but in the course of refining it they got painted out and not put back in. I guess the missing man got in the missing boat and sailed away.

Lopud Harbour

Lopud Harbour
(0.8 marker in A5 sketchbook)

Pat and I spent a lovely relaxing week on Lopud in Croatia last month. The island is part of the group of Elaphiti Islands, just off the coast of Dubrovnik and has no cars on it. If you don't feel like walking, there are golf buggies to get you around.

Before I went I had my usual fantasies of coming home with umpteen drawings, but the practicalities of doing so were soon evident. The town of Lopud lies in a long strip on the coast and the land rises steeply behind; a dip in the hills allows a road to a decent sized beach on the opposite side of the island. Apart from that, it's a matter of walking tracks, many of which we found quite demanding.

As a result, it's difficult to get far enough away from the buildings of the town to get a good view of them. And to draw anything other than buildings would mean standing in the middle of the street in what was a baking hot sun. This drawing was done from the shelter of the Elaphis Bar and Pizzeria while taking time over a 500 ml glass of draught lager. The only real problem I found with it was that boats had an annoying habit of sailing into harbour and then sail away again after I'd accepted that I'd have to include them in the drawing!

I generally set myself the task of coming home with at least one drawing from any holiday so given that we also had a thoroughly enjoyable time on the island, I'm not in the least disappointed.

Sketch Crawl : North East Maritime Trust, South Shields

Pulley (0.8 marker in A4 sketch book)

It was a lovely sunny day yesterday, perfect for the Sketch Crawlers to hide away in a boat shed and do some drawing. We met up in The Word, the new library in South Shields, and had coffee before heading down to the River Tyne. From the ferry landing it's an easy walk along the river to the North East Maritime Trust boat sheds where Richard had arranged we could do some sketching.

The sheds are at first rather intimidating, I found, with so much stuff cluttering the place - every bit of it a still life subject in its own right - and so much going on as the volunteers go about their restoration work, so I tried to find something to draw on the quay outside the sheds.

I quickly found what I've always known, that drawing boats from a position other than straight on to the side is very difficult: so many curves! My first attempt at a coble being refitted was such a disaster that I welcomed the fact I'd decided to use pencil rather than ink, and rubbed it out.

In the quieter shed next door I found a balcony where I was faced with this pulley (above) and so set about dealing with all those chain links as the river lapped gently on the slipway below.

In the Shed 
(2B mechanical pencil in A4 sketchbook)

I'd more or less given up doing anything more, but wandering inside the main shed again, I saw Bob across the way doing a sketch. I liked the way he was framed by the extractor fan and decided to make a quick pencil drawing of just that, but as the drawing went on, more and more of the clutter began to find its way onto the page.

I spent last night adding some of the details, such as the diamond pattern on the windows and a few shadows.

These two drawings represent two different approaches for me. The first is an example of my usual decision on these Sketch Crawls - to make a finished drawing that stands on its own. The second is a new development for me - a definite attempt to get down an idea for a possible painting by rearranging elements of the subject as I go along. 

Montezuma

Montezuma (Oil on canvas, 15 x 18 in)

I last looked at this boat painting in 2008 and although I've shown it once, I never felt it was finished. Now it is, even if what I did to it wouldn't be noticed by anyone but me. Now it's framed and ready for a show coming up (more on that soon).

Staithes Harbour Office

Staithes Harbour Office (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

I'm not sure this has gone in the direction i thought it would, but I'm satisfied with the end result.

Boat, Trogir Marina

Boat, Trogir Marina (Oil on board, 30 x 30 cm)

This needed only a little work to finish it, so it was a good way of easing into the day's work.

First Staithes Painting

Harbour Office (work in progress)

This was one of the subjects I'd like to have tackled while I was at Staithes, but standing on the beach with the wind howling against my back made it impossible. Once I got back, however,  I really wanted to have a go at it, so trying to shake off the current mood of "what's the point of it all", I got down to it today.

I think it's working out well. It would be possible to leave it as it is, I guess, but that's not my way. Having said that, there's not a lot more I need to do to it - some railings, a bit of defining of boat shapes and some lightening of the sand areas here and there.

Boat at Trogir

Boat at Trogir (Oil on board, 6 x 16 ins.)

Calling in at the Club yesterday, I barely had time for a quick chat and to pick up this small painting I completed some time ago.

I really must address the problem of spending time at the Club. Since we moved into the new premises I've hardly been there and I think in part this is due to my not having adapted to the admittedly smaller space and the sense that there is no natural light (in fact the light is all natural but comes through diffusion panels).

Boating Again

Boat with Pines (work in progress)

This is a painting of a little boat moored near the marina at Trogir in Croatia. My plan today was to finish off the small painting I began last week, but before I did so, to start another so I'd have something to keep me going when the small one was done.

As sometimes happens, however, I got so absorbed in this new boat painting that I just keep going until it was time to go home. So now I'll have two to finish off next week

Wansbeck Houses with Boat

Wansbeck Houses with Boat (Oil on board, 20 x 40 cms)
Private Collection.

I think I'm done with this (The photograph, by the way, is making the boat cabin look pink when it's actually more grey). Not a great picture, but a reasonable one considering it was cobbled together from a couple of sketches, on a piece of cut-off board.

I got to the Club late today, so I had no time to do anything with the painting of the Swing Bridge I've been trying to rescue for some time now. However, after a make-over job on the sky last week, it's beginning to look like it might work after all.

Swing Bridge (work in progress)

Wansbeck Boat picture contd.

Wansbeck Boat & Houses (work in progress)

I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with the way this painting is working out at the Club. I gave myself a challenge with it, by deciding to make the main colour bias green, and by and large, that seems to have worked out, but how would I know? My reservation is pretty much to do with the picture itself. It just doesn't excite me at the moment. I'll finish it off next week and see how I feel about it then.

More Wansbeck

Wansbeck Houses (Pilot disposable fountain pen, sketchbook)

I was a bit lost for something to do at the Art Club yesterday, so I took along this drawing to see where I might get with it on a small board. Instead of including the boat in the foreground, I've lifted in (and reversed) the little boat with the cabin on the right of this drawing:




Wansbeck Shacks (Pilot disposable fountain pen, sketchbook)

I'm not sure that it's going too well. The lack of any colour notes is making me fly by the seat of my pants, and I find that disconcerting. But I thought it would be good practice. I didn't have my camera with me, so I'll let you see how it goes next week.

On the Wansbeck

On the Wansbeck (Oil on board)

Later, at the Club, I finished this, which I'd resumed last week.

In 2002, I spent a day with some Art Club friends, drawing at a boat club on the River Wansbeck. There's a formal rowing club on the Wansbeck, but the area we were in was a run-down strip of foreshore, not far from the mouth of the river at Sandy Bay, with little tarred shacks and rotting hulls. Very picturesque. My painting, Wooden Sunset, was based on one of the upturned boats there.

Amongst other things, I drew this group of boats and a couple of the shacks, and when I got home I made a start on a painting based on the drawing. As is often the case, other priorities intervened and the picture got put to one side, only to be unearthed last week when I was looking for a small board to start another painting on. The muse took me, and the boats were up and running again (if that isn't a mixed metaphor).



Wansbeck Boats (Charcoal, colored Conte, sketchbook)

WorkArt

I was recently contacted by WorkArt, who were interested in taking some of my paintings for leasing to some of their clients. I think this is a splendid arrangement. I get to free up some space in the studio, the work gets seen, the clients get to live with some nice pictures, and at the end of the month, there's some money in my bank account.

Today, I sent off four pictures, one of which is this little thing which had languished in the To Be Looked at Again section of the studio for some time. Adrian, of WorkArt, was particularly keen on taking this, so although I hadn't even signed it, I let it go. (The photograph, too, was rather hurried, and suffers from reflections)




Montezuma (Oil on canvas, 15 x 18 ins)

The painting is based on a sketchbook drawing I did on a day out at Royal Quays Marina in 2002. The boat had belonged to a fisherman who had died recently. His sons, who had no interest in fishing, made plans to take their father's body out to sea in the Montezuma, and scuttle it, but the Coastguard intervened.

As a result, when we visited the Marina, the two sons were hard at work doing the boat up so that they might at least earn a bob or two by taking others out to sea (though not for burial)..




Montezuma (2B Pentel pencil, 8 x 10 ins., sketchbook)