Gloucester Harbour
Posted: June 24, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 19 CommentsCan you understand why I love the harbour scenes in Gloucester? It’s this contrast of big shapes and small ones, lights and darks, straight lines and curves that make it so fascinating and so much fun to paint. I worked on this by starting with the big shapes of the sky, the buildings, the boats and the water. Then I added the details like the reflections, the dark shapes between the pilings, the windows and the shadows. Good thing I started with those big shapes because when I was about halfway through a huge fishing boat pulled in to unload and blocked about 3/4 of my view. I was able to complete the details mostly from memory and partially from the bit of the scene that I could still see. Painted on Arches 140 lb CP paper, 15″ x 11″.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
Oh, those delicious smooth washes!
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I was able to paint this one cleanly and that always makes me happy.
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Shari,
I love this. Did you work directly on the paper with not lines at all. Just watercolor?
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Thanks Gail. I did some pencil lines first and then the watercolour. Before I scanned this I erased the pencil.
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Hi Shari
This is a delightful painting by any measure. Just a minor point though – your tallest mast/pole support is missing
Cheers
Ian.
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Thanks so much Ian. That structure that is above the dock is some kind of lift I think. That’s why it’s angled. I actually took a photo of the scene so have a look here. You’ll see that it’s nt a missing mast but rather an inaccurately painted lift: https://shariblaukopf.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/therealharbour.jpg
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Looks great. I get the feeling that there was a lot of reducing of detail happening in the background?
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Thanks Ross. Yes, there was a lot of detail I eliminated. At some point when you are painting all the little bits you realize that more of them will add nothing to the painting and then you know you are done. If you want to see a photo of the real scene, before the boat pulled up, here it is: https://shariblaukopf.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/therealharbour.jpg
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You are right. There is a lot of messy and uninteresting detail in the real-life version that would have cluttered the painting… very enlightening to compare your photo and painting… thanks.
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I think it may have been a good thing that the boat pulled up. It kept me from painting all the clutter.
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Just a shame that it didn’t pull in before you painted the truck… : )
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Hi Shari. Lovely …. as always! Would be interested to know what time of day it was? What made you go with the yellow sky? And what sort of value sketch you do for something as complicated as this … even though as Ross says the real scene was probably even more complicated. Sorry …. so many questions. Best, Tony
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Thanks Tony. I painted this in the morning, probably between about 10 and noon. I went with the yellow sky because it was a really hazy day and that seems to convey haze well. I wanted to have more warmth in there. Years ago I studied with Milford Zornes for two weeks on the Ligurian Coast in Italy. We underpainted every watercolour in yellow. If you have a look at his work you’ll see what I mean. He was a member of the great California group of watercolour painters. and I think some of that stuck with me. Here is a link to what I was looking at: https://shariblaukopf.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/therealharbour.jpg
I did a value sketch for this but it is so rough it’s not worth posting. In a scene like this the values are so clear to me right off the bat that I started painting almost immediately.
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Fantastic! I’m studying this well to try my hand at it in August. Thanks for the thrill of anticipation!
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That’s right, you go to this area too. I hope you have a wonderful time.
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Do u made this with only water color ?
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Yes, this is just watercolour. And a little pencil drawing first.
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Reminds me of Frank Webb’s style; a nice application for the subject.
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Thanks Mike.
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