Thursday 19 January 2017

#156 'Tower House, Portsmouth Harbour' 8x20"


Painted this a couple of days ago in the city I used to live in. It was a good spot on top of the Round Tower (a fort built from the 1490's) being eye level with the big boats going in and out. I also heard a honking it was swan flapping by right near my head!

I chose to do this as a panoramic because the sky and light was wonderful and the sweep of the harbour a good combo. But it was quite hard to make the composition work with the the Tower House building in the foreground. 
By the time I had finished the outside session, I was unsure as to whether it was going to work out. 

When I returned back to the studio I couldn't bare the sea I had painted so wiped it all off and nearly wiped off the rest too but was pleased I didn't! 
Sometimes paintings work from the start and others don't! For example a painting I did last week but didn't post I worked when I got home but it didn't come together and was ditched.  Thankfully this one came together, yay! 

I drew this same scene back in 2003, I made the drawing outside but never did a painting from it until now. Might do another one in this more square format but on a different day and different weather.....

For Christmas this year my husband Nick, designed and made me a Open Box M pochade converter for panoramic boards like this one. Previously I have been taping the boards onto my pochade with brown tape! Because the Open Box M grips the painting on the sides, this one grips top and bottom.  I used it for the first time to do this painting and it worked beautifully, thank you Nick!


3 comments:

  1. The sea at that point of the harbour is fast flowing, the gap narrow. I get a real sense of this in the painting. Love the loose solidness of the buildings and the fishing boat centre, in fact all the diverse shipping - ferry boat, yachts and cargo boat add to the composition.

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  2. This painting really suits the panoramic format and different view point looking down. It must have been chilly so high up but you have painted the buildings in the foreground so beautifully and this leads the eye out to the distant sea traffic and horizon.

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