DEMONSTRATION

Boat on the Shoreline

2022-06-17 - Judith Yates trained as a fine artist before a career as a professional designer and illustrator. She is now a full-time artist, exhibiting and selling work privately and through a number of galleries in the UK and has work in private collections both at

STAGE ONE

Using a 3B pencil I drew the boat, placing it just off centre, adhering to the well-used rule of thirds to produce a comfortable composition. I located the main markings in the sand, to generate a gentle curve around the boat, leading the eye through the image. Using a palette knife I applied a 5mm layer of texture paste to the edge of the water rivulet. To mimic the water ripples on the sand, I produced the marks and rippling shapes with the tip of the knife, then carefully blended the texture to create understated marks as they move towards the distance to help create a sense of perspective

STAGE TWO

I painted in all the basic shapes and tones using slightly wet washes. The sand was a mix of sepia, yellow ochre, and burnt sienna, while for the water I used a mix of ultramarine and purple mixed with white. I quickly blocked in the tones for the boat, using a combination of dioxazine purple and yellow ochre mixed with burnt umber for the deeper shadows to form a strong, three-dimensional feel. Blocking in the main shapes at this early stage gave a sense of how the final image would appear. Applying loose, obvious paint marks, allowed the wet paint to sit in the texture and provided an interesting base coat that would show through the subsequent layers to suggest considerable depth to the work

STAGE THREE

Using my photograph as a reference, I emphasised the strong side lighting using a small, flat brush to apply details to the boat. I created definite painterly marks, paying attention to the subtle tones, deep shadows and bright highlights. I mixed strong, clean blues for the painted wood to ensure that it was discernible from the subtle natural tones of the sand and water

STAGE FOUR

As more detail was added, I paid particular attention to the shadows, created with mixes of indanthrene blue, dioxazine purple and a touch of ivory black. I accentuated the three-dimensional qualities of the boat, which were a very important feature. To attract the eye, and add a subtle flash of interest and contrast, I added a small dash of red on an object placed in the bottom of the boat. The rope leading from the boat towards the foreground also directed the eye into the main subject whilst mirroring the curving shapes of the sand

STAGE FIVE

I introduced soft glazes of wet paint over the sand, using a combination of yellow ochre and burnt umber to build the depth of tone, and created a darker shaded area towards the front of the image to emphasise the direction of the light. I also applied subtle, white glazes of paint over the background sand, working in thin layers with a large flat brush until the appropriate light effect was achieved. I painted a thin mix of Hooker’s green and burnt sienna along the top of the rivulet, then tipped the surface of the painting to encourage it to drip down over the water to produce a wet, reflective quality

FINISHED PAINTING

Boat on the Shoreline, acrylic on board, 153/43153/4in (40340cm).

To create shimmering highlights on the texture in the left-hand foreground, I used a flat, size 4 dry brush, filled with a pale yellow ochre and white mix, which I swept at a steep angle over the underlying texture so the paint just touched the high points. Next, I tweaked all areas with a few subtleties of light and shade to bring the whole image together. At this stage it’s a matter of standing back and analysing the painting, judging one tone against another.

I decided to soften the swirling water shapes with layers of white in the distance until they created the right sense of perspective. Subtle tones were added to the shadows for more realism and a small but necessary amount of detail added to the rope