Sunday walk in the boatyard

Posted: January 4, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 22 Comments

It’s been cold in Montreal. Very cold. But with a pre-warmed car and some heavy boots on, I managed to do some painting (from my car) at the boatyard in Hudson this morning. The giant shrouded boats are always a favourite of mine. I don’t often see anyone when I’m parked there, but today I had a little company: a couple walking their black lab. Lucky me! I grabbed a small brush and added them in, making sure to check where their heads and feet lined up with the boats. I think it makes it so much more interesting to have them in there for scale. Painted on a 12″ x 9″ block of Milford paper from St. Cuthberts Mill.

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.