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Boats are the other love of my visual life, especially (but not exclusively) boats of traditional design; whether a twelve-foot peapod, a Whitehall, a thirty-five foot Friendship Sloop, a Down East lobster boat, a schooner, or a trawler yacht. I’m taken by a sweet sheer line, a curling bow wave, taut sails, a coil of rope, neatly stowed lobster traps, all backed by the infinite moods of the sky and water.
So, I’ve added two kinds of boat paintings to my “repertoire;” detailed images of specific boats, which I consider portraits, and highly “cropped” pictures of parts of sailboats, which I consider abstracts. Since the portraits are usually commissioned by the boats’ owners, they are not for sale to the general public. The abstracts are for sale. (Contact me.)
Abstracts
I’m painting semi-abstractions of sailboats in action. These are fairly large works, ranging upwards from 20” x 24”, and based on my own photographs. I paint the images with attention to authentic nautical detail, but the artistic emphasis is on the strong abstract elements achieved by severe cropping, playing with color range and tonal values, and paying close attention to the negative spaces. Working mostly with palette knives, I achieve a modeled surface. In other words, I put a lot of paint on these canvases and make the physical nature of that paint obvious to the viewer. My goal is to make these works artistically appealing to all viewers, whether or not they are “into boats.” I especially want to share with other boat lovers my excitement about how a boat’s visual elements can evoke the joy of being aboard.
Boat Portraits
I’ve added portraits of boats to the commissioned paintings I offer. I do the work from existing photographs — if they are suitable as sources for a painting — or from photos I can take by appointment. For these yacht portraits I use a “tight” technique, similar to the technique I use for most of my portraits of people. Your boat is a very personal possession, and this technique emphasizes the details that make your boat unique, whether it’s custom built or a well known model.
Abstracts
Photos
Boat Portraits
Photos
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