My Art in the Making

The following demonstration is of a Geelong boat repair yard. The painting won a major prize in Melbourne. I have shown a comprehensive stage-by-stage approach to producing a likeness of the original photo, not a direct copy. It is a studio painting 90 x 68cm (35 x 27") done in 90 minutes.

Reference Photo

The reference photo is looking north across Corio Bay, Geelong, from the boat repair yard in midday light.

STAGE 1 SKY

The sky was painted using a large filbert brush with cerulean blue mixed with ultramarine blue. The paper was dampened in certain areas and parts were left unpainted for the white clouds. A grey (ultramarine blue plus cerulean blue plus sepia) thicker paint was added wet-in-wet under the clouds.

STAGE 2 GROUND

The basic platform, or ground area, was painted with a ½-inch hake brush using a mixture of Indian yellow and burnt sienna leaving white paper areas for the boats and buildings.

STAGE 3 BUILDINGS & BOATS

The major boat and building shapes were painted in middle tones (thicker paint) of various colour combinations.

STAGE 4 FOREGROUND

The foreground bushes were painted in quickly with a middle tone of thicker paint in a mixture of viridian, cerulean blue, sepia and burnt sienna. Paint is mixed on the palette first. This technique is the more rapid method of mixing paint and is surprisingly not universal. Depending on the artist, paint can be pre-mixed in small containers or mixed on the paper. My palette mixing method is based on that used by oil painters.

STAGE 5 SHADOWS

When all the major areas and subjects have been painted, shadows (ultramarine blue, cerulean blue and Winsor violet) were applied across and underneath objects to create a time of day feel and a sense of three-dimension appropriate to a tonalists preference for creating light.

STAGE 6 DARK TONES

Dark tones (very thick paint with a reduced amount of water) in sepia were applied to contrast against lighter areas to “push out” the object.

STAGE 7 CLOTH WORKING

Solid dark areas can be worked on while wet. They can be scratched out or fragmented by lifting off to create interest. This can be done with a thumbnail or the end of your brush or blotted with tissue.

STAGE 8 USE A MIRROR

At this stage, or any stage, a mirror can be used to check for balance. It can also often restart you if you don’t know how to keep proceeding. Never be arrogant enough to presume all is going well.

STAGE 9 SMALL DETAILS

The details are now painted. The distant boats are just a quick, single, short brushstroke.

STAGE 10 ADDITIONAL CLOTH WORK

A damp cloth can be used to soften edges and smooth things together. Soft and hard edges are necessary for your eye to move around the painting, going in and out of various sections.

STAGE 11 ROTATE YOUR CANVAS

To paint a straight mast turn the paper sideways and use a rigger. Details on the boats included adding rigging and gunwales.

STAGE 13 LIGHTENING THE DARK

To lighten a “too dark” area, white gouache can be mixed with the original underneath colour that the shadow or dark area covers. In this case, it was added to Indian yellow for lightening an area around the boats and turquoise for lightening the front of the shed.

STAGE 14 FINISHED PAINTING