Southwold, Step-by-step.

Step by Step – Southwold fisherman’s huts and boat.

Southwold fisherman’s huts and boat.

 

I thought I’d share the process behind this recent painting.
The composition was chosen from hundreds of photographs I took on a visit to Southwold and Walberswick a couple of years ago.  I didn’t feel much amendment was needed to the composition, although I did crop in slightly.

Stage 1

Stage 1.

I start, as usual, with the sky.  Here I was considering how to use counterchange most effectively.  The roof of the shed on the left is reflecting the light and is pale in tone, so I decided to paint a fairly strong blue behind it.  In fact I’d intended to bring this down lower but in the rush that didn’t happen.  On reflection I also think it would have been better to make that whole top corner just blue sky rather than having the white cloud there.  The pattern of blue/cloud in the end is too evenly balanced.  I varied the blue to the right side, using more Winsor rather than Ultramarine.  A pale mix of Winsor Blue with Indian Red was used for the cloud tone.  I painted this very speedily just after putting down the areas of blue, touching into it in places to create soft edges, and leaving white hard edges in other places.  Light is coming from the right.  
Then working from the background forward I painted the first wash over the land.  Mainly this is Raw Umber, with additions of the two blues and some Indian Red to give the idea of patchy short grass, weeds and gravel.  Some strong darks are also added in places, ‘dry into wet’, but also meeting dry areas of paper for dry-brush effect marks.  This is an element of ‘detail’, which I like to build in partly to each wash, rather than adding it all together in a later over-wash.  I find this helps knit the painting together, and suits the way I work quickly on Bockingford’s absorbent surface.

I also add some colour (as an under wash) in places to a shed and some red rope.

Stage 2

Stage 2.

Now I work on the sheds, generally from left to right, using loose marks, mixing thicker paint with broader washes of paler tones, and letting some random things happen for texture.  It is done quickly so it all dries as one wash in terms of each shed, and with strong tones where necessary to ensure I don’t need to return to overpaint.  I make a scrape out with fingernail here or there, such as above the door on the key focal point dark shed facing us, and the small mast leaning against the dark shed on the right.  Some suggestion of details (random ‘stuff’ leaning everywhere around the sheds)  is also made by negative painting very loosely.
The main boat is put in.  I use Winsor Blue with a little bit of Cobalt Turquoise for some subtle colour variation, and Indian Red is the other main colour on the hull.  The boat needs to grab our attention, so I’ve used bright colour, somewhat different to the sky which contains more French Ultramarine.  On the hull I’ve used very thick paint, a mix of Indian Red, Ultramarine and probably some Burnt Umber and Winsor Blue to reach – first time – the tone needed in this shaded part.  This was painted wet-against-wet so the bands of colour bleed slightly together softly.  I’ve kept this area soft-edged internally, so as to help convey the lack of light and reduce any need for ‘detail’.

Final Stage

Final stage.

This is mainly about adding some cast shadows, and then just a few extra ‘suggestive’ marks.

For a soft join I pre-dampen very gently (or the paint would lift) part of the boat hull and from there paint the cast shadow over the ground, and the board leaning against the boat.  This outside edge is deliberately hard to suggest strong light, but I soften it away by bleeding slightly in a couple of small areas so that is seems grounded rather than ‘stuck on’. There is a mix of short patchy grass and gravel here, and varying from hard to soft edges I think helps convey this.  The idea was that the boat itself was a strong enough tone to convey being in the shade from the first wash.  However I’m not certain I got it quite right, and also I had to resist the urge to go in and add some detail of the ‘boarding’ the hull consist of (probably not the technical term!) that was visible in the photo but which I felt would drag the painting down into a level of detail too far.  I’m still not certain about this.  I think if I were to do a good, succinct job of it – requiring accurately curved yet very swift brush marks – then it may lead to an improvement overall, with the boat perhaps being able to carry a slightly higher level of detail than the rest of the painting, which in the end plays a more supporting role

I added some shadows coming into the foreground from something out of shot to the right.  This further creates a sense of the whole place, adds some extra counterchange and depth, but most of all ‘points’ the eye in a helpful direction.  I think the most successful thing about the painting is the starting composition, and really it all needs painting again…  As is usually the way of things!  I could for a start give a far better indication of the light, and direction of it, by lightening the faces of the sheds on the left in relation to their sides, and so on.  In reality these sheds are timber blackened by paint, weather, or both, but such a thing can be changed for the good of a painting.

 

Tutorial video

Finally, I should be releasing my first tutorial video, hopefully in the next month or two.  This will be available for purchase or rental.

Comments On This Post

Patricia Brander 7 years ago. Reply

I know Southwold and Warblerswick very well, and I think you have captured the spirit of the place very well: blisters skies yet peaceful and definitely rather behind the times.

    Jem Bowden 7 years ago. Reply

    Thanks Patricia.
    Your description sounds right to me.
    I suppose the painting must have come out okay because I’ve since sold this one to someone who knows the place well too.

N Cross 7 years ago. Reply

Looking forward to the tutorial.

    Jem Bowden 7 years ago. Reply

    Thank you N Cross ! It’s nearly done, and should be with us in a matter of weeks, so long as nothing goes wrong….

Stephen 7 years ago. Reply

Trust the video is a success, you are certainly busy with all your ventures!

    Jem Bowden 7 years ago. Reply

    Thanks Stephen. Video not ready quite yet, but hopefully quite soon now. Yep, keeping busy.

Gillian pentz 7 years ago. Reply

Fantastic news about the tutorial look forward to it .regards gill

    Jem Bowden 7 years ago. Reply

    Great, thank you Gill.

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