Fishing Boats at St. Ives, Cornwall
With all the beautiful sunny weather this week I just wanted to paint something really sunny and summery. Looking through an old sketch book I found a pen and ink drawing of some boats from when we were on holiday as a family in Cornwall in August 1998. I had never got around to producing a painting from it despite also keeping a reference photo, but here we are 14 years on and I finally found the moment!
I often like to paint from a combination of sketches done on the spot, and reference photos. The rest is interpretation. So what was my ‘take’ on the picture? Well, I wanted it to be as sunny and bright as possible. The way to do this in painting is not only to make the shadows dark and often hard-edged but also to make the shadow colourful, ie blue and mauve rather than grey or brown. Also bring out the bright colours big time on those red and yellow balloon thingies with shine on, and don’t touch the white, just leave as blank paper. I’m pleased with the result as summer has been a long time coming and may disappear again in another day or two, so I feel as though I’ve spent the day back in St. Ives!
And here’s a link to the painting on my website: Fishing Boats at St Ives in Watercolour
