Aqua Lobster Boat

On the second day of my two-day paint out in Cohasset,    I jumped right into my painting in order to get this pretty aqua lobster boat captured fast.   I knew from watching the activity on the previous day that the lobstermen would likely be arriving any minute in order to load up the boats and head out for the day.   Once that happened, the subject of my painting would be gone.  

Block in of Lobsterboat "Goldeneye" (which is aqua)

It was rainy at first, but not too cold or windy. For me it really was very pleasant under the shelter.   I had brought a much larger canvas  than I would ordinarily use for painting outside, specifically 14x18 inches.   I pulled out some bigger brushes as well.

My underpainting was a greenish blue color - aqua really.   That used to be the word we used for greenish blue.   It is out of vogue - I think - and we use teal or turquoise to describe it instead.   I'm calling this aqua.   I first blocked in the darks, which made up the the major portion of the canvas leaving unpainted space for each boat.  

Sure enough, pickup trucks started arriving loaded with neon blue plastic barrels of bait and their bright yellow traps.    The lobsterman shown in the photo who is starting the skiff turned out to be the owner of my painting's center of interest, an aqua boat named "Goldeneye."   (There must be a story there somewhere - named after the seabird perhaps).   On the right side of the photo is my painting at that point.  Only one hour into my painting session and it was the beginning of the end, which is why I grabbed this quick photo.    The tide had turned and the current had reversed the direction of the boats. 

The skipper boarded the Goldeneye and brought it in along side the dock.  He apologized that he was blocking my view of the dock.    I chuckled and told him that the boat wasn't blocking my view, but that his boat was the subject.   He laughed and said that it would be back there again tomorrow.   He thought it was a good looking boat too and that it was actually 30 years old.

I packed up and headed back to finished the rest of the painting in the studio.   It is never as good as painting on site.  Painters always say that the light is never the same in the photo, and it is so true.

Aqua Lobster Boat

I tried to preserve the various greens and red maple colors I had matched on scene.  I put in a hint of the house doorway on the far shore.  I worked on making the boats accurate along with their reflections.    After I got the reflections painted in, I turn the canvas 90 degrees.   I made sure that the line where the rocks met the water was consistent from the top to the bottom of the canvas.   I then checked that there was some semblance of a mirror image on either side of the line.  

I turned the canvas right side up,  I made the water blurry by dragging a large house painting brush down over the water from my line down.   I then cleaned the house brush and dragged across.      My work on this is done for now.  The camera has picked up the shine of the wet paint, especially on the right side of the canvas.  I am thinking I will take it up to the mooring and do a final match of color and detail once it is dry.