Creating
a Marine Picture
|
Getting the
pictures for the paintings.
Peter and his wife Anne spend a
lot of time on the water amongst the boating fraternity taking
photos of various boats in action. In Peter's words, "You
need to be able to see the wave patterns when a boat travels
through the water, each boat hull has its own wave pattern and
the customer knows their boat better than any one else. The
customers love to have paintings of their boats in action, not
sat at anchor or on a mooring" . Seen on the right is Peter
and Anne on their boat ' Work of Art' a Bavaria Motor Boat 29
."We chose this type of boat for its nimble manoeuvrability
at speed and its 34 knots capability" says Peter, "you
need to be able to get around your subject with ease, without
causing any problems to the vessel you are photographing",
Anne can be seen in the back seat photographing in the
Solent, England, for the next painting "we were travelling
at 25 knots, at the time, in a following sea, in a force 3-4
wind" remarked Anne, not the easiest of tasks!!
|
Bavaria Motor Boat
29
|
Starting
the Painting
|
 |
Initially the painting is started with a loose pencil
drawing followed by the application of masking fluid to
protect the white areas from overwash by the first washes
in blue and green. These are the lightest colours that
will form the background. next the first washes in the
boat are applied. In watercolour paintings the colours
are applied light to dark. |
| The next stage in the painting is to start building
up some of the shadow and background colours for the
cliffs and the initial detail and shadows around the
boat. It is also at this stage that the pencil sketch is
rubbed out with a putty rubber. |
 |
 |
Now the build-up. The fist details in the cliffs and
the boat are started, more shadow work is implemented and
the first of the waves start to build up. This is the
time when the painting starts to take on the the feeling
and movement that is needed to make it come alive. |
| The finer details are now applied, the first of the
fussy bits and the build up of the sea. More and more
wash layers are applied to the sea and sky to give it the
feeling of depth and distance. More shadow in the waves
and boat to create the Three-D effect that gives you the
feeling of being part of the picture. |
 |
 |
The final details are now put in, a little more
shadowing in the spraywash from the boats hull, the
lighthouse on the cliffs and the rocks, the crevasses in
the cliffs, more waves and shadow, finer detail on the
slopes above the cliffs, the people on the fly-bridge of
the boat and finally the birds, the artists little
trademark, three seagulls sometimes fairly well hidden. |
I do hope that this has given a
little insight into the painting and intense fun of
creating a picture in miniature watercolour, it can
become an almost fanatical thing if you let it, every
detail must be in or the customer will notice. People
love their boats and it is up to the marine artist to do
their very best to supply a lasting memory for the
future.
|
For
prices and further details, please email me or
write to:
Peter Hayton,
14 Benson Road,
Poole,
Dorset, England BH17 0GB
or phone or fax me on +44 (0)1202 679182 Back to Peter Hayton the
Artist
|