Boat Hulls

 

First I painted the buoys. The two matching ones didn't have much to them, but the round ones took some extra time with the stripe and reflection.

 

Next up were the hulls. I started on the water line (a deep cranberry) then moved to the white hulls.

A key to making this painting work is not only painting reflections of the boats in the water but also creating reflections of moving water on the boats. 

 

Much of this upward reflection is trial and error as I play around with lighter streaks, blending, darkening, more light streaks, etc. The idea is to make the reflection present but not a focal point. At the same time I worked on the reflections in the water, softening them and blending in warmer greens.

 

I've been looking forward to painting the wood of these boats. It was the wood and timeless nature of the boats which sparked the concept of the painting.