Painting the Boat

colour swatches, original photo and basic sketch for Painting the Boat
© Teresa Newham

The last time I managed to get to the Set Dance weekend in Portmagee, Co Kerry, was almost exactly two years ago. The fine weather had prompted some of the locals to prepare their boat for the summer - in full view of my hotel bedroom window. So of course, I'd got snapping - intending to do a painting based on the photos one day.  I took advantage of a recent week off work to do exactly that - I stretched some cream watercolour paper from my tinted stock, tried out some colours and made a basic sketch from one of the photos, which I then attempted to transfer to the stretched paper.

interim sketch
© Teresa Newham

The first draft (above) was reasonable - somewhere along the line the chap on the right had moved forward and was now holding a brush in his right hand - but it required tweaking:  the crate on the right had to go, the boat needed to be bigger, and my idea of putting the paint tins front left was clearly not working.  Eventually I found a suitable arrangement - which ironically was closer to the original photo - and started laying down some washes.

Painting the Boat - half finished
© Teresa Newham

Within two days the painting was complete - not bad, considering I spent quite a lot of time doing other things including performing in an amateur production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience, and rather more mundane stuff such as shopping and cooking.  At least it gave those washes a chance to dry properly . . .

Painting the Boat
© Teresa Newham 2012

Here's the result.  As with my last painting, close cropping seems to suit this subject, and it was definitely worth making a sketch from the photo as the basis for the painting, rather than using the photo itself.  I wonder what colour that boat's painted now?  I'll have to go back to Portmagee to find out!