Being Added to Gallery

There is a joy to be sat en Plein Air in front of Marine and Maritime subjects endeavouring to capture their tones, lines, textures and colours, often observing the dereliction with its rustic reds of corrosion and vivid green of algae between tide levels.  Thus are the attractions of abandoned vessels and structures especially abandoned vessels and piers, the concrete, steel and timber. 

Surprisingly though it is restful to be looking at the sea, it is amazing how difficult it is difficult to render  both the colour and mood.  For example, no waterway is ever conventionally blue and may reflect the sky, that is not always blue and may have pastel as well as stormy clouds – the water may have streaks of olive greens and purples contrasted with pale streaks reflected from above which will show sea conditions.  There are no conventions as no two occasions are the same.  Tides are such a phenomena - high and low levels are never at regular times each day; so, one has to study appropriate tables; this means that the direction of the light will have shifted, compounded by the sun moving around in any case or going in while working outdoors.

It is of course impossible to capture the fine detail in the (inevitably wind-swept) open hence a n artwork may be taken back to the studio to be refined.  However, it is essential to go back to the scene to finish the job.

The casual viewer or serious connoisseur should appreciate the working and reworking involved and not conclude that the artist has “just knocked it out, then”