On the Ocean Waves

Well not quite on the waves, but painting them anyway! A couple of days ago I was at Castor and Ailsworth Society of Art, not far from Peterborough. It was an evening demonstration and I was looking for a slightly different type of subject to my usual landscape as I’d been to several Peterborough societies before and didn’t want to repeat myself.

Charcoal sketch of a Thames sailing barge
My charcoal planning sketch on A2 cartridge paper.

As luck would have it, I’d recently been asked to do a watercolour of a Thames barge, as a gift for some friends, so I thought that this might be an interesting subject to demonstrate. I began by planning the painting, using my favourite method of a large charcoal sketch. My photo that I was using as reference was just a close-up of one barge, so I added a couple of others in the distance to give the composition more balance and to add interest. The sky in the reference photo was also clear blue and as you can see, I changed that too!

Thames sailing barge watercolour painting
The watercolour demonstration painting. 15ins x 22ins on Waterford 140lb NOT paper.

After the sketch was completed I then had to try and retain the composition and the tonal values in my watercolour painting. I used a very limited palette of colours, with Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna and a touch of Raw Sienna. It can be a little tricky trying to paint and talk at the same time, and I might have liked to bring the dark clouds even lower, but overall I was pleased with the painting.

Margaret and I were warmly welcomed at Castor and we really enjoyed our evening in this charming village. Hopefully we’ll see everyone again at some point in the future. Happy painting!