Painting Southern Light

Had a day to spend in town today so took my paints with me, set up early and painted this beautiful old concrete boat in the Whangarei Town Basin. Apparently it was used in the movie 'mutiny on the bounty' years ago. I loved the shape and the way the dark hull merged with its reflection into one large mass, and the character filled details of all the old style rigging.

The owners were super friendly - as were all the dozens of people who stopped by to chat and give their own brand of encouragement. Always good when a painting is going well. Not so much when it's not. If you notice a slightly chunkier style to the finished painting it's because I was thinking very much of Charles Movalli's work, which I really admire. He treats each painting like a piece of music - something to think about, often.

The trickiest part of this painting was the drawing which changed as the tide came in and raised the boat, and the light, as ever, which couldn't decide if it was overcast or sunny, but I tried hard to stay with the initial overcast lighting idea. Changing the plan half way through a painting is more often than not a recipe for a muddy scraper. Really enjoyed this one.

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Comment by Richard Robinson on March 23, 2014 at 19:47: Chris the temperature can be any. You could explore this though by trying painting any old temperature or trying a whole painting where you only add cools in with cools and warms with warms.

Comment by Chris Bloom on March 22, 2014 at 5:45: Just a quick question on broken color- I know the value has to be the same, but what about temperature?

Comment by Marisa Comana Pessina on March 4, 2014 at 20:39: Never painted such a complex boat in my life but will give it a try...

Comment by Silvana M Albano on March 2, 2014 at 4:14: Quite a challenge... again...!!!!!

Comment by Lisa on March 2, 2014 at 2:03: I love the beautiful reflection in the water. Love your works as always.

Comment by Dorian Aronson on February 28, 2014 at 14:09: Spectactular Like Always! So crisp, so clean so YOU!

Comment by Sharon Casavant on February 27, 2014 at 12:59: Amazing how you turn a picture/boat/scene into a painting and make it look so easy. Very clean and light , bright colors.

Comment by George on February 26, 2014 at 3:58: Visual music and poetry. A rythm of simple shapes, colours and values in a perfect harmony

Comment by Faisal Tariq on February 25, 2014 at 17:36: This is awesome… :)

Comment by Steinunn Einarsdottir on February 23, 2014 at 22:27: A superb execution of a difficult subject Richard! Great painting!

I have often gone to the harbor with the intention of plein air painting but shied away from it and took a photo instead to paint from at home.