This project was my last commission before I went on maternity leave in 2022. I was 32 weeks pregnant with the twins at the time. I decided to push my knowledge of watercolours further on this project. So I took some time and learnt a few new techniques in washes and layering of watercolour before launching in. As I usually work in oils - I find myself a little at sea with how to control watercolours (excuse the pun).
I was commissioned to paint Tengawai, a fishing vessel that the client’s husband had worked on in the 80’s. The boat had changed considerably since the 80’s, it a complete colour scheme change, an extension of the cabin and other fixture changes. So I had the challenge of working from one photo to get my boat angle and then referring to older photographs for the colours, lettering placement and cabin shape. This made the drawing process quite tricky but satisfying once I had everything in place.
I started with the line work.
As you can see from above there were a number of test pieces before committing to the final piece. It was really interesting trying out different approaches to the sky and the water until I got the balance right.
