Fisherman’s friend

Posted: July 30, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 13 Comments

As much as I try to complete a painting on site, it’s not always possible. Here’s one from our trip to Crete in the spring. I started this on location in April but was interrupted when a sponge seller on another boat docked in front of me. Apparently I was in his spot, but he politely waited while I packed up my gear.

Before the sponge boat pulled in, I was happily painting this scene of a fisherman untangling his nets and chatting with a friend. I witnessed this often in the morning in Chania. Usually two fisherman in side-by-side boats, having coffee, and working on their nets. I’m not sure if they were just coming in or on their way out but I suspect it was the former. This time the conversation was between the friend on the pier and the fisherman just below. In a scene like this I always try to draw the figures first in case they move away. The boats are likely to stay there longer so I draw them second.

As I mentioned, I always prefer to finish the painting on site but this time it wasn’t possible. I brought the watercolour home and it sat on my drawing table for months. It was really only missing details of nets, rigging and some waves in the water, so I added those in this week. Hopefully it still has the freshness of a scene painted in the early morning in one of my favourite places in Greece.

Masts and tarps

Posted: February 11, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 25 Comments

I love painting in my car studio but this winter has been so cold and so grey. This week there’s finally some sign of a light at the end of the winter tunnel. The days are longer (Alice’s second walk of the day can now be at 5 instead of at 3:30!) and it’s warm enough to paint from my car.

Painting in winter in my car has its challenges, but I have my routine. As always, I wear warm boots because my feet get cold quickly. The car interior has time to warm up as I drive to my location, so that helps too. And surprisingly, even very wet washes (sky and the snow shadows) dry quickly when the sun is shining on my paper. Painted on a pad of Arches CP, 10″ x 14″.

The one that survived the lake

Posted: September 24, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 49 Comments

I didn’t think there would be any more opportunities to paint boats in Hudson this year, but my friend Michelle reached out with a nice invitation to join her at the yacht club last weekend, and I didn’t hesitate to say yes. I’m so glad I did.

We chose a painting spot out on the pier where we could look back at the marina and the trees on the shore. It’s a complex viewpoint but I chose to focus on the blue sail cover in the foreground and the masts behind it. Two thirds of the way through my painting, I briefly considered tossing it in the lake and starting again, but I think it was just missing darks. I repainted the background to darken it and that helped a lot. Painted on a pad of Arches 140lb CP paper, using lots of Cobalt Blue that had escaped a well on my palette.

Race committee boat

Posted: July 22, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 18 Comments

It was my lucky day today. My friend Michele extended an invitation to paint with her at the Hudson Yacht Club, and I was free. We made the most of this perfect — and near windless — morning by setting up in the shade with a view of the race committee boat and its companions. I could have done an entirely different painting from the same spot: a gaggle of geese feeding on the lawn and then descending, single file, down the boat launch and into the water for a swim. Maybe the geese will be next time.

Worth the drive

Posted: July 16, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 20 Comments

Even though I now live a little further away from the boat club in Pointe Claire, it’s still worth the drive to sit under a willow tree and paint the masts and the sail covers at the boat club. Even on a very humid day.

I love the complexity of this scene, and of boats in general, and I’ve missed painting them. For a composition like this, after my initial pencil drawing, I start by painting the bigger shapes first: sky and water. And then, because all the colourful darks of the sail covers are somewhat connected, I paint those next. That sets up the light/dark contrasts. My third section is to paint the boat hulls and reflections with a variety of middle values. And the last — but probably the longest part of this — is to get lost in the details. First the masts, and then the shapes in between the sail covers. I use an inlaid liner for those small details, starting with dark paint and finishing with Titanium White watercolour.