Steamships and sail

Commissioned work has rather taken up my time recently, given the unusual times we are living through and the diminished state of the worlds economy I am grateful for the work.

Prior to the latest commission I had completed a number of marine paintings in the hope that this years exhibition season might not be completely eliminated. More a hope than an expectation at the present time.

Two of the works are of steam merchant ships in the 1920s based of photographic records from the family archive. They are effectively a pair in that they depict a ship taking on timbers in Canada and discharging the cargo in Boston harbour. The others are sailing vessels all of the works are painted in acrylic on stretched canvas.

Genoa Bay Vancouver

Timber for Boston 1924

A Breeze on the Blackwater

Running before the storm

The River Medway, after JMW Turner

I have been perusing JMW Turner's Medway sketchbooks which are online at the Tate Gallery website.

A fascinating series of pencil sketches done by Turner at various times between 1805 and 1830, the sketchbooks give an insight into how busy the river was with naval and commercial traffic. They are a series of visual shorthand pencil line drawings, in the main done as reference for future work. This means they need a little persistence to decipher but with a little effort they yield a surprising amount of information. A few were worked up into watercolour paintings but most of the sketches went no further.

I could not resist the notion of interpreting some of the sketches into a painting or two of my own. I did not want to create a pastiche of the great mans work but instead use my own treatment of the basic sketch information.

My first development sketch was to select a subject and work it up using water soluble colour pencils which gave a very quick impression of a watercolour. I used a similar colour palette to Turner and his use of contrasting tonal ranges. The result was rather closer to a Turner than I had intended! Next I chose a second sketch made a few changes to the content to give a composition I preferred. I then selected a view and worked in acrylics using my usual technique. My interpretations are below.

It has been a very interesting journey of discovery and will result in more paintings I think.

You can find the Turner sketchbooks at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/sketchbook/medway-sketchbook-65837/23

Looking towards Chatham Hill

Colour values sketch with the Dockyard on the right

Towards Chatham Hill at sunrise

Again towards Chatham Hill with an 84 gun ship of the line

Chatham 1825 the complete painting

Suffolk

A recent trip to the Suffolk coast has resulted in a few painting ideas the first of which is seen below. A stop at the Tide Mill at Woodbridge on a sunny winter afternoon was too good an opportunity to miss.

Painted on board (6mm MDF to be exact) rather than my usual canvas, it was something of an experiment. The board was gessoed first to give it a little tooth and the painting completed in acrylics. I found that initially when painting on the gessoed ground that the acrylic paint dried even more quickly than on canvas. Adding a little medium might be advisable if I repeat the exercise. Other than that I found little difference and my usual technique was up to the job.

Dream for sale, Woodbridge Suffolk

National Maritime Museum Art Club Annual Exhibition 2013

The National Maritime Museum Art Club Annual Exhibition is currently on show at the Paul McPherson Gallery 77 Lassell Street, Greenwich, London, SE10 9PJ.

The show lasts until Saturday 22 June and comprises marine themed paintings, drawings and prints from members of the Art Club.

I am fortunate to have three paintings on show this year. All work in the exhibition is for sale.

Canadian Corvettes in acrylics with a second corvette
 painting in the background

Officer of the Watch acrylic

Castle in the Air, also in acrylic