Fishing Boat - Half Moon Bay

[bmulford]

20x16
Acrylic on Linen
December 2004

Nocturnal / Twilight @ Half Moon Bay's fishing harbor.

Inspired by E Boudin's maritime paintings.

[Lady Carol]

Hi:the sea is brilliant. How did you get it to look so interesting?

The cabin of the boat could do with a little pale lighting to draw attention to it. Aside from that I think it is a winner.

[Bertoni]

Boudin would be proud! I agree the boat could use some pale lighting as Carol suggested....It's a very powerful looking painting!

[bmulford]

Originally Posted by Lady Carol

Hi:the sea is brilliant. How did you get it to look so interesting?

The cabin of the boat could do with a little pale lighting to draw attention to it. Aside from that I think it is a winner.

Hi Carol!

I can always count on feedback from you on one of the rare occasions I post something. I really appreciate it!

I agree on the boat - the actual picture is a little lighter, and seems to stand out slightly more, but not so much it looks garish.

***since you asked*** The sea/sky - I tried a different technique than usual. This was done Alla Prima, on a primed linen canvas. I rough brushed the canvas with midtones, allowed it to cure for 5 minutes, then scumbled it out with a clean rag, followed by a flattening with a large soft varnish brush. I repeated this process through the mid tones, shadows, and highlights about 10x. Used Ultramarine, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre, and Cer. Blue with a 1:1 ratio of golden acrylic glazing liquid. That process laid down a loose improvisational sky/sea underpainting.

Then while still wet, I heavy loaded a no 10 brush with glazing medium, and sculpted away area's of the sky and sea to reveal the (now toned) canvas. That became the "light" spots in the sky and sea.

next I loaded glazing liquid (.5:1) with paynes grey and ultramarine blue on a 10 brush, and added texture to the sea.

This approach really gave me a lot of texture and a tonal quality that I thought felt similar to twilight, and was visually interesting.

I deliberately made the horizon slanted as a means of adding tension to the scene without resorting to ominous clouds or too rough of a sea.

thanks for reading and commenting!

[bmulford]

Originally Posted by Lady Carol

Hi:the sea is brilliant. How did you get it to look so interesting?

The cabin of the boat could do with a little pale lighting to draw attention to it. Aside from that I think it is a winner.

Hi Carol!

I can always count on feedback from you on one of the rare occasions I post something. I really appreciate it!

I agree on the boat - the actual picture is a little lighter, and seems to stand out slightly more, but not so much it looks garish.

***since you asked*** The sea/sky - I tried a different technique than usual. This was done Alla Prima, on a primed linen canvas. I rough brushed the canvas with midtones, allowed it to cure for 5 minutes, then scumbled it out with a clean rag, followed by a flattening with a large soft varnish brush. I repeated this process through the mid tones, shadows, and highlights about 10x. Used Ultramarine, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre, and Cer. Blue with a 1:1 ratio of golden acrylic glazing liquid. That process laid down a loose improvisational sky/sea underpainting.

Then while still wet, I heavy loaded a no 10 brush with glazing medium, and sculpted away area's of the sky and sea to reveal the (now toned) canvas. That became the "light" spots in the sky and sea.

next I loaded glazing liquid (.5:1) with paynes grey and ultramarine blue on a 10 brush, and added texture to the sea.

This approach really gave me a lot of texture and a tonal quality that I thought felt similar to twilight, and was visually interesting.

I deliberately made the horizon slanted as a means of adding tension to the scene without resorting to ominous clouds or too rough of a sea.

thanks for reading and commenting!