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Reference Photograph 
Mevagissey is a small village in Cornwall with a nice harbour full of fishing boats. I took many photographs as I did not have time to paint or sketch. Above is the reference photograph I used. |
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Watercolour 
I started this studio painting by making a small watercolour. Painting a watercolour of the subject helped to put some distance between the reference photograph and the final painting. Working in small format made easier to solve compositional problems and to have a feel for the direction of the painting. It is also interesting to see how watercolour and oil lead to different interpretations of the same material. |
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Stage 1 of the oil painting: Drawing 
The canvas has been prepared with a tinted gesso. The canvas I used was already primed, but I prefer to have a medium value background so that lighter marks stand out when blocking in. I mixed some acrylic paint with white gesso: one part vermillion, one part yellow ochre and a touch of ultramarine. For this painting, I wanted a warm background as I knew the cool colours would be prominent. I traced the two diagonals on the canvas to make sure that the boats were centered. I then traced a grid onto the canvas using a pale chalk pencil. For the drawing I use sanguine or sepia pencils rather than graphite pencils (that tend to make light colours dirty). These pencils are big enough to prevent you from dwelling into details. The colour is warm and disappears under the paint without smudging the colours. |
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First Wash of Colours 
I installed the 24” X 20”canvas on the easel and squeezed the following colours on my palette:
Using hog brushes, I quickly went around the canvas with washes of bright colours thinned with Sonodor, so that the paint would dry quickly. My aim was to create a lively tapestry to anchor my colours on. The blue of the water should sparkle on the yellow foreground. At the same time, the general tones of the painting are put in place: darker areas and lighter ones. |
I then started the actual block-in process. I used paint with practically no thinner, apart from the one left on the brush when I clean it between different colours. For this painting, I had a guest colour: Turquoise blue. The tube bursted and I had to use the colour (this is an example of happy accident). |
This was a later stage in the block-in phase. I added darker marls on the top of the buoys and on the rim of the boats. I also applied darker blue tone in the background. The tinted background of the canvas still showed in many places, creating a warm/cool contrast. Stage 3 I worked again on this canvas after a long interruption. I was a little apprehensive to have lost momentum, but decided the best way was to just get started. I laid the following colours on a glass palette:
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I started working on the boat in the foreground. I wanted to give some strength and depth to the painting and get more definition without going into to much detail. The paint mixes well as it contains oil and I used almost no thinner. For the lighter areas, like the top of the box in the blue boat and the front metallic structure, I applied some Light king blue. The work on the water was done on the go, using the colours also used on the boats. As a general principle, I tend to go around the painting using the same colours in order to give some unity to the work. The glimmering aspect of the water was obtained by the different layers, breaking down the strokes, alternating dark strokes and lighter ones. I mixed some Ultramarine blue with Carmine Alizarin to paint the rim of the cream boat with a dark purple. I generally don’t use black from the tube, I prefer to mix it. The round orange buoys worked very well in the painting. They provided roundness that contrasted with the sharpness of the prow and, from the colour point of view, the orange and red spots vibrated on the blue/green complimentary sea. I worked the top of the water with the edge of a flat brush. I applied some Naples yellow on the sunny area of the boats: the bench and the front of the cream boat. On the front of the boat, the paint mixed with the King’s Blue Light I applied before. Naples Yellow is a good alternative to pure white. Think of it as the colour of luxury letter paper. When I worked on the light area of the water, I kept in mind the final effect I would achieve by glazing and I laid the foundations. I used all the blues on the palette: King’s Blue Light, Cerulean and Ultramarine that I mixed with Titanium white to grade them. I then concentrated on the triangle of water between the reflexions of the boats. By making this area lighter, the boats would stand out. After that, I worked on the reflexion of the boats to get the right tonal value. Again, I took into consideration that the final aspect would come with glazing. I added the “telling details” that make boats: the boards on the side, the masts. I stopped the session after two hours. The light declined and the colours became muted. I put the painting to dry on top of the drawers. I could glance at it from time to time and think about the next stage. I already knew I had to work on the boat edge on the right, put more details in, more weight, without making it too distracting. I would rework the mast to put some light on them. I could not do this with the fresh underlying paint. The reflexion of the mast of the cream boat looked too blue. I had to make it darker (probably dark green) and more muted. I would add the registration numbers and the flags. I was looking forward to the next session. Glazing would bring depth to the water and soften the passage from light to dark on the boats. |
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Stage 4 - Glazing 
At this stage of the painting process, I worked with an alternation of brush strokes and glazes. I used only the medium to prepare the colours. I have a dipper filled with Sanodor solvent to clean the brush between two colours. Material used I squeezed the following colours on a glass palette:
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I used three brushes:
The Artist Painting Medium from Winsor & Newton that dries slowly and creates a non yellowing film works well for glazing. The trick is to apply the medium and wait a little bit (or to mix the colour with the medium on the palette and wait few minutes). It then takes a sticky consistency and adheres very well to the canvas, making it easy to lay the colour and stretch the stroke into a thin transparent layer. |
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Work on the main boats I began with the orange buoys that glow like bright lanterns catching the sunlight. For the blue boat, a glaze of French Ultramarine and Crimson reinforced the curve of the hull. I painted the details of the registration number and the Cornish flag with a rigger. The chrome tubes at the front of the boat consitute an interesting feature. For the inside of the boat, I wanted to achieve a balanced composition with grey tones. The volumes were rendered by contrasting warm greys and white with cooler greys (playing between yellow and blue in the grey spectrum). Work on the water For the foreground, the successive glazes built smooth waves and ample movement. I started by glazing the reflection in the water of the cream boat. Glazes are ideal to paint calm water. They combine transparency and smooth transition from one colour to another. The transparent layer on the under painting creates depth. In the middle section of painting, the brush strokes were more apparent. The yellow white brush marks on the left, which marked the glittering of the sun, were rendered with creamy and generous brush strokes. I looked for a buttery consistency. The light blue was a mixture of King’s Blue Light and Titanium white. In the background, the shimming water was made of a weave of thin strokes layered with the edge of the small synthetic flat brush. This was built over time, alternating brush strokes charged with medium in order to break down the brush strokes of the previous stage. The intent was to tone down this area to obtain a good mid-tone while keeping interest in the upper part of the painting. |
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All the colours of the palette have been used to render the background up to now. Toward the end, I reduced the number of colours and used a mixture based on Cinnabar Green to bind the background together. I then blended the colours with the badger brush. I used it without any paint, rotating the hair lightly on the surface of the canvas, like a blushing brush. The soft badger hair caught some paint and deposed it on the surrounding areas. The marks of the brushwork were blended without disappearing. Work on the ancillary boats The side of the boat visible on the right edge of the canvas has been painted in neutral tones, apart from the buoy. The buoys acted as a motive and punctuate the canvas. The sailboat on the left in the background has a dark hull. A few light spots on the top of the deck created interest. Details were merely suggested here. The masts were fused into the background water. This was a shadow area of the painting. This boat provided a nice way to balance the composition: The masts echo the poles on the two main boats. I glazed the reflection of the sail boat with Cinnabar green deep.
The painting was finished and signed.
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