Safe Harbour

Teacher Painting

"Cartoon" A4 Pencil on Paper

After several sketches tracing one over another I ended up with this final cartoon (Cartoon is the old school word for a drawing that is ready to transfer onto a painting surface). (Print this out the size that you want and trace it onto your canvas!)

Teacher Painting

"Safe Harbour" 11 x 13" Acrylic on Canvas by Richard Robinson.

Teacher Painting

Detail. Notice how the shadow in the sail moves from cool grey to warm grey. That's because the sky is reflected more in the inner curved surface there. The subtle gradation in the light shape from light to darker helps create the effect of the scooped sail. The section at the top (A) tilts down and reflects the warm light from the sunlit sail and the deck of the boat.

Teacher Painting

"Sketch" A3 Pencil on Paper

The dome was a nice idea but now the boats struck me as being too tidy - lined up like a car park, so I thought to angle the foreground dinghy and explored some different types that might make an interesting shape there.

Teacher Painting

"Colour Study" 6x7" Acrylic on Paper

Better with the strong light on the sail now - more interesting, but the triangular shapes of the castle compete with the sail, so made the castle into a church dome.

Teacher Painting

"Thumbnails sketches"

Keeping these sketches very small saves you from wasting time getting carried away with detail. This sketch in the middle measures about 2.5x2.5". Any bigger than that and you're wasting time not focusing on the big shapes. I was thinking of adding a couple of fishermen into the foreground handling a net but that would require models, and eventually I went with the idea of adding a sailboat as the center of interest.

Teacher Painting

"Grayscale study" 6x6" Acrylic on Paper

Nice but what is really the centre of interest here? The boats? The castle? The people? Not sure, so I added a sailboat in the colour study next.

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Student Painting

"Day Sailing" 11x14" Oil on Canvas by Jim Baldoumas

Nice work Jim with strong colour and interesting variations throughout. The drawing is all good except for the shape of the dome which is a little squat. We're missing the strong shadow across the pier and the shadows cast by the white fenders onto the side of the boat. You've achieved a good light effect across the scene with the values getting much lighter and closer together in the background - not easy but you've done it well. Overall a solid result - good to see.

Student Painting

"French Harbour" 11x14" Acrylic on Canvas by Charles Post

Charles you have an interesting style - crisp edges versus soft transitions, simplified forms versus fine details. I love the central boat - such good shapes. The drawing of the front 3 boats is at odds with each other because if you can see that much inside the front boat there should be a gradual reduction in the internal view of the other two, whereas you've drawn them with very little elevation, as they would be if placed further away from us. Beware of making soft shadows where you intend there to be strong sunlight because in most situations strong sunlight will produce hard edged shadows. Cast shadows from clouds and mountains are the usual exception to this. An overcast day will produce soft edged shadows. Great work!

Student Painting

"Come sail away on the Sloop RR47" 11x14" Oil on Canvas by Lori Ippolito

Great work Lori! I like the dramatic swoosh of the background echoing the smooth curves of the sail. Great atmospheric perspective there! The colours seem to be working very well together with a few blue exceptions in the reflection of the central boat and the midground water on the right becoming a bit too punchy. The drawing of the dock and buildings are very good but the boats could do with a little straightening, most notably the waterline of the black yacht needs to be flat and horizontal on the water. Nice to see you varying the colours in the shadows which many people have made too dark and colourless in this project.

Student Painting

"Hot Summer's Day (Yvoire - vue du port avec le château)" 50x65cm Oil on Canvas by Jon Main

You captured a great sense of warm light in this painting Jon which you mentioned was your particular goal for this piece. Mission accomplished! Beautiful greys in the shadows if the buildings particularly and great relationships with their counterpart sunlight colours. Subtle! You've also displayed excellent drawing skills and attention to detail without going overboard. My only real concern with this piece is the confusion in the foreground water where you've tried to stick with the detail in the photograph instead of simplifying it a little so it is more easily readable. Australian artist Joseph Zbukvic does this exceedingly well - worth having a Google.

Student Painting

"Oversimplified W47" 13.5 x 14.5 cm Acrylic on Cellphone Case by Silvana M Albano

This is such a neat idea Silvana I just had to include it in the critiques. As a painting it could do with a few drawing tweaks, but the colours and certainly the exaggerated atmospheric recession are quite beautiful - like a tiny Monet. The drawing issues are just the waterline of the black boat should be horizontal and the mast needs straightening. Also the light stripe between the boat and its reflection could be removed to connect the boat better with the water, oh and you could remove the dark textures from the reflection too. Great idea!