12 Day Carnival Mediterranean Cruise

It was quite a shock to witness the sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off of the west coast of Italy at Giglio Island on Friday, January 13th, 2012.    It makes me think that 'but for the Grace of God, there go I'.  Just three months ago, my wife and I had the trip of a lifetime on Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Magic, that took us on a 12 day trip, primarily centered around Italy.  At that time we were also visitors to the port of Civitavecchia, where the Costa Concordia had departed before it's sudden demise at Giglio Island.

 Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images

Fortunately, our cruise left us with nothing but fond memories and high respect for the level of professionalism of the staff and crew aboard ship.   My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the passengers of the stricken Costa Concordia, who are still missing, together with the families that are awaiting their safe return.

The Art of Richard De Wolfe: Sailing

The Art of Richard De Wolfe: Sailing: Sailing It is early January in Canada. This winter has been the warmest I have ever experienced here. We still have no snow and the groun...

Sailing

Sailing

It is early January in Canada.  This winter has been the warmest I have ever experienced here.  We still have no snow and the ground has only just become frozen.  The last two days were very cold and it has quickly reminded me how much I miss warm summer weather and boating.  It would be nice to just sail away to a tropical island.....

This small sailboat is actually one that I viewed from the upper decks of a cruise ship as we slowly entered the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy in October.  The painting is just 6 inches by 8 inches, painted in oil on a canvas panel.  I am offering it by auction at dailypaintworks.com.

Freighter Inviken-Step 6

The final phase of the painting is a matter of going back and refining areas as needed.   The clouds are softened a little and white highlights are added to indicated the direction of the sunlight filtering through them.  The trees and bridge are painted in and if you look close, you will see a tiny tractor-trailer truck at mid-span.  Small details are added over the superstructure of the ship and the hull is embellished to make it look powerful.  I add layers of colour over the small waves and reflect the sunlight with an impressionistic application of white highlights.

The last thing I do is add my signature to the lower right hand corner.  This last image is a professional scan of the finished painting and is a better representation of the true colours in the painting.  As I work, I take digital photos on my easel where the light is not as balanced as it should be, so the initial images can be less acurate.

I wanted to create a painting that suggests power and industry, while at the same time indicating the power and majesty of the natural world.  When I finished, I was pleased with this result.  The painting measures 16 inches high by 20 inches wide, painted on stretched canvas.  If you are interested in purchasing this original work of art or a fine art print on archival paper or canvas, please visit my website at www.richarddewolfe.com.

Freighter Inviken-Step 5

It is finally time to start blocking in the ship itself.  This is a complex shape with many small details.  I take my time, painting in sections simply and as clearly as I can.  The mass of the hull is mostly black with only slight suggestions of form and contour at the rear and away from the sunlight.  On the right side of the ship, where the light is strong, I try to suggest heavy steel plates that are streaked with rust.

The superstructure of the freighter is much more complicated and each area requires careful consideration.  I keep the surfaces that are away from the sunlight cool and subdued and begin playing up the surfaces that face the sun.  This creates the center of interest in the painting.  Everything is now more or less in place and working together.

Freighter Inviken-Step 4

I begin blocking in the clouds now.  I start with the darks, establishing the weight and mass of the cumulus formations.  When I placed the general cloud masses in the sky, I drew them in perspective,  going from large shapes in the foreground above the ship and progressively getting smaller as you look further back and down towards the distant horizon.

Now I begin refining the darks in the clouds and adding mid tones to soften and mold these areas.  I work progressively lighter, leaving the brightest highlights until last.  Now I have established the general look of the sky, with only the ship itself to be blocked in.  The overall look of the painting is beginning to make me want to get back out on the water myself!

Freighter Inviken-Step 3

I continue to build simple colours in the water, the headlands and the bridge that is back near the horizon.  Already the ship seems to be sitting on the surface of the water and moving towards the bridge.

I add more detail to the trees and then spend more time building subtle colour shifts in the surface of the water.  Each wave is a separate surface.  Each of these surfaces is concave in shape, so light is reflecting off of them in a multitude of angles and intensities.  Everything is in continuous motion, so I find the best way to paint water is to recreate the impression it gives you rather than trying to sort out specific details.  I work over this surface a number of times, occasionally adding a thin glaze with one colour to unify everything if it gets too busy.

Freighter Inviken-Step 2

Now I create a tonal image on the canvas, using progressively darker mixtures of my ground colour.  This gives me a feel for the tonal balance in the painting.  In other words, I can assess where the lights and darks will fall and what sort of positive/negative design this will create in the finished work.

Now it is time to switch from acrylic paint to alkyd.  I usually block in the sky first, working from dark to light and distance to forground throughout the painting.  I have painted the sky a darker shade towards the zenith and becoming progressively lighter towards the horizon.  I also keep the sky lighter on the side towards the light of the sun and darker on the opposite side.  As you can see by the light side of the ship, the sunlight will be on the right side of the painting.  I avoid getting to fussy or detailed at this stage.

Freighter Inviken

It is the beginning of boating season here in the Thousand Islands area on the St. Lawrence River.  I love the water and boating, and soon I will be launching my own craft once again.  The St. Lawrence Seaway has been open to shipping for several months now and will remain open until late autumn, alllowing ships from all over the world to reach ports all around the Great Lakes, deep in the interior of Canada and the United States .

This is a freighter from Europe that I saw several years ago as it was approaching the Thousand Island Bridge, between the U.S. mianland and Wellesley Island, N.Y.  I loved the powerful mass of the ship, rising off of the water like some displaced, highrise architecture.  I found the persepective leading to the arch span of the bridge in the distance to be an interesting design that appealed to me.  The rolling clouds overhead seemed to enforce the energy and power of the massive ship churning upstream to Toronto, Detroit  and perhaps  many ports beyond.

Once I had worked out the composition to my satisfaction, I transferred the drawing to a 16" X 20" stretched canvas.  The next step was to spray the drawing with fixative to prevent smearing when I started to paint.

After fixing the canvas, I applied a mixture of matt medium, burnt umber and cadmium red, to create a warm, earthy ground.  This acrylic mixture is mostly matt medium to maintain a high degree of transparency so that my pencil drawing remains very visible.  The warm colours will be complimentary to the cool blues of this waterscape.  At this stage I am always eager to see some local colours applied to this ground.

Geraldine

I decided to stick with the boating theme once more, but this time it is an autumn scene, in keeping with the change of seasons. I am always amazed by how quickly summer seems to end and autumn begins with cool nights, changing leaves and shorter days. It is one of the nicest times of the year to be on the water provided the sun is shining and the winds are calm.

The Geraldine is a restored steam yacht, that is now on permanent display at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York. At one time, boats like this were common on the St. Lawrence River. In the background is a 1000 Island landmark, St. Brendan's Church, at Rockport, Ontario.

I started this painting as a demonstration at an art show. The painting measures 16 inches by 20 inches high. It is painted in alkyd on canvas panel. Prints are available.

Elusive

Every year, about mid-summer, there is a show and auction sale of antique boats at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York. I caught this wonderful mahogany speed boat, a fore runner of the modern 'cigarette boat', as it left the Alexandria Bay boat basin during the Antique Boat Show several years ago. She has just passed the Sunken Rock lighthouse, at Alexandria Bay, New York, heading back upriver toward Clayton. When the captain opened the throttle, she was gone in a flash.

I loved the way the cumulus clouds were building in the sky and the way the sun shone on the highly polished varnish finish on the hull of the boat. The long, narrow shape of the canvas adds thrust to this composition, and the bow-view accentuates the length of the boat in relation to the size of the figures in the cockpit. The original painting is done in alkyd on a canvas panel. It measures 12 inches by 24 inches. It now hangs in one of the beautiful old summer homes on an island on the Canadian side of the river.

Boldt Castle

This is another example of a painting that I did of a boat in the 1000 Islands. I saw this small, antique sail boat, with the bright red sail and I knew I would have to paint it. I took a number of photos, circling the craft in a power boat, and I am sure the sailor wondered what I was up to.

In order to create an interesting composition, I used the image of the sailboat to create a lead-in to the castle on Heart Island in the background. The six story, 120 room mansion is a full size Rhineland castle, built by George Boldt as a wedding present for his beloved wife, Louise.

In 1904 tragedy struck and Louise died from tuberculosis. Construction of the castle halted immediately, never to resume. Broken hearted, Boldt never completed it and he never returned to the island again.

The picture is actually only part of a larger painting that I did of the entire island, which features stone buildings at either end in addition to the castle itself.

Swell

I love to do paintings of the Thousand Islands, and antique boats are special subjects to me. There is no place I enjoy spending the day more than on the water where I grew up. This spot is just a half mile from my old home, near Rockport, Ontario.

"Swell" is a beautiful example of a 34 foot Elco Cruisette that was built in 1925. She is seen here passing smoothly under the Thousand Island Bridge on a warm, misty morning, as the sun begins to burn through the river haze. You can almost hear the throaty melody of her 38 HP, 4 cylinder inboard engine, as it pushes her smartly through the calm water at a respectable 10 MPH. Antique boats like this one are still fairly common in the Thousand Islands and they are highly prized by their owners.

I painted this picture on cotton canvas, using alkyd paint, applied very smoothly. It measures 16 inches wide by 20 inches tall. Occasionally, I am commissioned to paint antique boats, such as this one, for their owners. Prints are available for this and a number of other antique boat paintings that I have produced. Check out www.richarddewolfe.com for other examples.

Confederation Park

I love to paint pictures of the Thousand Islands, the St. Lawrence River and boats. This painting is one that I did several years ago. It is the Confederation Boat Basin in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, not far from where I live. In the background is Kingston City Hall and Confederation Park. This is a great place to spend a summer evening near the water when the weather is warm. The view here is from the outer docks, looking back toward the lights of downtown Kingston. The sunset is rapidly fading into twilight and the ducks have settled for the night in the shelter of a boat slip in the foreground.

The painting is sixteen inches wide by twenty inches high. It is painted on cotton canvas with alkyd paint. Prints are available.