The Tricky Lines of Boats

Whilst we are all sitting out the COVID-19 crisis at home, I thought I would share some little snippets of tricks and tips to help with your art projects at home, whichever your medium of choice, you may find some of these helpful. Do let me know if there are any particular things you find challenging and I’ll see if I have anything up my sleeve to help.

Today, here’s a little five minute video about how to improve your drawing of boats and how getting the lines right can be helped by your understanding of simple perspective.

I hope you are staying well and keeping busy with creative projects.

Take care and enjoy:

How to travel light when painting 'en plein air':

Sometimes, the opportunity arises for a spot of painting outdoors and the weather even co-operates, but by the time I've thought about what to take out of my normal painting equipment, half my painting time has gone.  To get around this, I keep a light-weight rucksack ready to go with just 10 items already packed:

  • watercolour travel palette, with colour in pans and space to mix
  • brush, squirrel hair round, size 12 (an elastic band holds this against my palette)
  • black ink, fine tip felt pen, for sketching (optional watercolour markers)
  • A4 watercolour pad or block
  • a few sheets of kitchen paper towel
  • a refilled, litre plastic bottle of water (for painting and drinking)
  • a recycled plastic yogurt pot, (or collapsible water pot)
  • small spray water bottle
  • sunhat
  • small towel, to sit on
My 10 bare essentials, for painting 'en plain air'.

My 10 bare essentials, for painting 'en plain air'.

With these bare essentials ready to grab and go when the chance appears, I no longer waste any time collecting what I need, when I could be painting instead!