Drydock, 10x20

Boatyards are....
...an admitted fascination.  I'm not sure what the attraction is but I know there is no limit to the shapes, detail, color, movement, sense of adventure and unique people there.  This one is the Port Townsend yard where boats from up and down the west coast can be found.  This time there were more than usual from Alaska getting all cleaned up.

 I was there with my good friend Mick Davidson and we spent the first half hour just wandering around looking for ideas.  The possibilities were all over but when I saw this scene I felt intrigued and, though I felt it too complicated to pull off very well, I walked back there with my shellacked birch panel and dove in.

Composition:
It took a bit but I finally figured out what my attraction was.  It was the sense of space and depth, from the temporary stairs and scaffolding back into the distant hill and sky.  I felt expansive looking at it.  Here is how it went in my head.  If I look to the sweet spots (divide the canvas in thirds and look to where the lines cross) for possible focal points, this is what it looks like:

The colorful buoys and the detail of equipment was the obvious spot, but there was another one in that upright structure in the background boat.  The buoys won.  Not much else attractive in the other two circles.

Then I wondered about eye travel through the piece until I noticed that the stair structure was similar in size and construction with that thing on the back boat.  My eyes kept going around the scene and pausing briefly at each of those areas....but still anchored on the buoys.

Toward the finish I thought again about the sense of space and found the distant hill and shoreline on the left side and the masts from the sailboats toward the right added an additional feeling of depth.  And, of course, the sky.

This took about two hours, so after a bowl of soup with Mick I went looking for another.  I liked the intense backlight in this one, although I almost went blind doing it.  One of the workers stopped by and told me that this boat was derelict and going to be cut up.  Too bad I don't remember the name, so I titled it "Her Last Stand" 10x15.  You figure out the composition.  Because of the sun this was seat of the pants painting.

Thanks for looking.  Back again soon.

'Hanging at the Shipyard' in 3 Acts.

'Shipyard'  12x24

Ever Since Reading 'Wind in the Willows'....
.....I've loved messing about with boats....except now I don't sail them.  I just paint them whenever possible.  So, when the weather cooperates I drive up to the largest working shipyard in the area for smallish boats and have fun.  The challenge is consuming.  The twists and turns of a hull can be as challenging as the human form.  

Two weeks in a row the weather and my schedule were in alignment.   'The Shipyard' is only a small portion of the whole yard, yet I like hanging around these slices of working boats, shipwrights, fishermen, sailors, live-aboards, and the curious.  I painted it between about 11 and 2.  I figured I was done for the day but so many people stopped to ask if I was painting the 'Lady Washington' I decided better do it.

'Lady Washington' 14x14

This was the only other sized panel I had.  The rigging above what you see became considerably more complicated so it was easy to justify not doing it.  What a beautiful boat.  The rigging drove me crazy.  There was more there but it would have made the painting look more like a spaghetti plate than a glorious ship if I had included it all....even with the rest of it chopped off.

The previous week I did the 'Annihilator' and talked to a lot of people.  Everyone has a story they want heard.  So I listened and didn't paint so much.  Still, the painting turned out fine but I'll save you the story of the lost dog, the other painter who did the Annihilator, the electrician who suddenly lost his memory and the woman with no place to live.  It was a full day.

'Annihilator' 12x12

Thanks for looking!  Back soon.

Blues and Reds, 12x12

Port Townsend, WA....
.....was originally hoping to be the New York of the West coast back before the railroad had made it here.  Astoria, Tacoma, Seattle, Portland plus some others were also hoping that they would be chosen for the Great Northern terminus.  Located at the top of Puget Sound, P.T. is a beautiful little town of old buildings, hills and ocean views.  It even has a downtown and an uptown (about four blocks up the hill).

The boatyard there is a friendly place of quirky people, small out of the way restaurants and good shapes and ideas for painters.  This last Wednesday I was wandering around trying to find my friend Mick Davidson and stumbled on this scene.  I really didn't care what the objects were because what grabbed me were all those blues.  I got kicked out of my first vantage point, which was good because I think this turned out better.

After a very brief break I walked around some buildings and painted this one which is certainly about the shapes but also very much about all those reds.  The advancing shadows of the afternoon kept me speeding along. I think they make a nice flat shape foil for the other objects.

A couple of years ago I drew from the same location....obviously a different boat.  I used the same drawing technique for the painting that I did in the drawing.  The very first stroke I put down was the telephone pole on the right side.  Once in place it becomes a measuring stick that the rest of the drawing can build off from.  Using that pole for comparison I can see where the parts of the boats line up in comparison to the pole.

I also did that in this warm up drawing for the trip this last week.  This time it was the front vertical piece of the fork lift.  Everything around that was placed in comparison....and then the rest of the drawing from those initial objects.  Makes things much simpler....I need 'simpler'.    (Look carefully in the other drawing and the same forklift shows up.)

Thanks for looking!!

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