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Roughing It
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| Medium: |
Water colour |
| Base: |
Paper |
| Year: |
2011 |
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1st place - monthly qualifier McClelland Guild of Artists "Artist of the Year" competition (July 2011) |
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Water colour painting of a yacht sailing in rough seas. |
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This painting is inspired by a photograph I saw recently. Sometimes scenes just stick in your head and the idea of a yacht plowing through rough seas had not really occurred to me for painting in the past as I had really thought that I was not the type of painter suited to marine themes. |
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What made me brave enough to tackle this was a recent day workshop with Glenn Hoyle. He has the ability to teach me to do things that I ordinarily am not brave enough to try. Since I knew that a water colour demonstration was coming up in the future at one of the guilds of which I am a member, I set up the paints and with the voice of my tutor in my head, proceeded to carefully plan out and execute this painting. |
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The first drawing process was very light and quick as I didn't want any pencil marks to remain or dirty the paint. The following layers starting with the lightest washes were timed and I allowed each layer to dry sufficiently before going on to the the next. This gave me time to really think about what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. Unlike painting with oils, which allow me to make mistakes and go over them, water colours do not. This is where my previous paintings have fallen short. This time I used some discipline and patience. I also tried something very new with this work, which was using masking fluid. I was a bit worried that it would not pull off after the painting dried, but thankfully - it did! What is great is that it kept areas that I wanted sharp white, exactly that! |
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The whole work was completed in the one session and I can honestly say that I was very pleased with the result. The little blue and red flourishes were my last additions and about the only place where I let loose a bit. They show the effect of the wind and put a bit more "texture" into the work. |
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It was great to follow-up the fun of painting this work by displaying it at the guild demonstration during July 2011 and have it awarded first place. I was given some very positive and encouraging remarks which I am very grateful for. |
| Dimensions: |
30 cm (width) × 42 cm (height) |
| Ownership: |
Artist |
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