Play in Progress
Here are some progress shots of the painting that I'm currently playing on (I don't call it "work in progress" because it's too much fun to create). The most recent shots are at the beginning, so just scroll to see how the painting came together. Click on the image to see a larger version.
SECRETS OF THE SEA CAVE
I've painted a lot of boats inside bottles over the years, and a long while back, it occurred to me that it would be neat to paint a shipwreck inside a bootle that was filled with water. The only thing I couldn't decide upon was what kind of background to use. That question was answered in the summer of 2024 when I visited "The Ovens" in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, a place famous for its gorgeous underwater caves. One such cave is accessed by a set of steps carved into the rocks themselves. It was perfect for the Pirate theme I was going for! I immediately composed the scene roughly - the idea being that the bottle would be seated on a chest with the cave opening and the stone staircase visible in the background. When I shared this idea online, someone suggested that I should include an octopus and I thought it was a fabulous idea, especially if I could have the tentacles visible wrapped around the bottle and distorted by the water. I nicknamed the Octopus "Otta". This is her biography...
"Secrets of the Sea Cave"
Click through to see the progress pictures of this painting coming together...
Those little strips of white are the only sections in Otta's painting that need to be finished!
Full disclosure: I didn't know exactly how I was going to fill this area until yesterday. The source pictures of the cave mouth and the stairs were taken from slightly different angles and I didn't have a good image to help me figure out how they should join up. There also railings and support beams in the way. Luckily, when I was at The Ovens sea caves yesterday, I was able to photograph the area from a good angle, and I've interpreted it here. I still have to play with colours and shadows to make it work the way I want it to.
There is actually still a fair amount of painting to do. There are a couple of white spaces left, and then I have to adjust some overall details, balance some colours, and add shome shadows. Also, I'm still not totally happy with the shipwreck in the bottle, but don't know what to do to fix it.
Ah well. That's a challenge for another day!
I just wanted to show how the stone stairway was developing. It's a slow process because there are a lot of rocks, and I'm taking my time making sure I get the scale right as well as making them look like they're wet and slippery.
It's also one of my favourite parts of a painting's development: when the background starts to take shape around the foreground object, giving it more dimension and depth (especially when bottles are concerned because, with darkness behind the bottle now, you can really see the white edge).
There's also a lot more colour on the rocks in this area of the cave, making it look even more like a bejeweled pirate's hideout!
This will likely be the last progress shot I post since I'm so close to being finished! I just have the stone staircase to paint, before I go through the entire painting and add the finishing touches (which includes, but is not limited to, putting detail into the rocks, making Otta's colouring consistent, and enhancing the shadows). I also really have to find a way to make the shipwreck inside the bottle stand out a little more, something I don't want to attempt until the dark background is fully finished, since that alone will (hopefully) make the bottle stand out more.
I'll post a high-quality scan once it's done!
It was a very productive day, and I was able to get the cave ceiling started and fill in the ripples in the water around Otta's head.
I'm loving how it's adding depth to the painting and beginning to fufill my goal of getting the background dark enough to help the lighter bottle stand out more.
Well, more or less.
The background will be mostly dark. I want the shipwreck in the bottle to stand out more, but don't want to play with it too much until I see how it contrasts with the rocks behind it.
I've apparently hidden a minion in the painting inadvertently (just beneath the neck of the bottle, it looks like one is peeking over the edge of the chest). I may have to adjust that if it distracts me too much!
If you're wondering where I got the reference pics for the wood grain, I went around the house and took pictures of the interesting-looking knots and swirls of our hardwood floors from the appropriate angles, then just painted them directly from my phone's screen.
For reference, the metal bands are, in reality, about two inches wide and the bottle measures ten.
So I set about widening the portion of wood that I had painted last night, and feel much better about the results.
Badum-tish.
Anyhoo, this will require multiple layers with multiple colours to achieve the weathered metal look I want. I'm also using an old brush since I'm not being all that gentle with it.
Well, for now. I may adjust shading and shadows as I fill in the background. I may also weather the card part of the compass (that is already shown as being slightly bent), and give it some extra shadow, but it all depends on how dark the background ends up being.
Then there's the glazing material that holds the glass cover of the compass in place. I want to paint it so that it looks old and cracked.
I still have to adjust some labels, and figure out how one of Otta's tentacles will be interacting with the compass, but I'm happy with the way it looks so far.
More shading and shadows to follow, but I want to fill on more of the surroundings first.
One thing I like about the creative process is leaving it open enough to make changes on the fly. I have to change the small penciled-in tentacle under the front of the bottle since it has to be thicker, and I've decided to have it coiled around an ancient mariner's compass sitting on the chest directly beneath the cork area of the bottle.
I still have to go back afterwards and add some more detail as well as add some more shading for depth. Also, now that I've got a real feel for how it's done, I'll have to go back to the first tentacle I painted and make some adjustments to keep it consistent
Well, they're mostly done. I may have to adjust shadows and contours once the surroundings are filled in.
WHARFSIDE REFLECTIONS
This painting is based on a picture of a foggy Nova Scotian fishing wharf that I took on Canada day 2023. The title is a nod to my previous painting "Dockside Reflections" because the theme is so similar: namely, that the dock in the foreground is reflected in the water and the background fades away in the mist.
I don't plan on posting anymore progress shots, so the next post will be the final product!
Here's the latest progress with some of the warehouse and the foggy trees in the background complete.
Here's the latest on my watercolour painting in progress. I've got more of the wharf done.
There was no flag in the original picture, but I figured, since the picture was taken on Canada Day, it needed to be added.
I've got the preliminary play done on the fishing boat. One of the things I love about watercolours is how they can make things like the antenna structure look misty if I use lots of water and don't overwork the area. The background is supposed to be shrouded in fog, after all.
Next step is to research old fishing warehouses to see how I can decorate this one...
LIGHTING IN A BOTTLE
I've been very much enjoying painting boats inside bottles over the last few years, so I'm going to shake things up and paint a lighthouse inside the bottle this time! The fabulous background is from a trip to Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy.
Visit the product page for this painting to get more information about how it came to be and the Easter Eggs hidden within. It's a long story, but it's well worth the read!
Anyway, here's today's progress. I've finished the rocks surrounding the bottle, and have tried to render the ones in behind as if they're slightly out of focus.
Now on to the sea and sky!
I've now got the bottom of the bottle complete!
VOYAGEUR SPIRITS
We're joining this show already in progress! I've been doing a lousy job keeping this page up to date so here's a current progress image of my latest boat in a bottle painting, this time a voyageur canoe with passengers against the background of Burleigh Falls.
Presenting my latest watercolour painting: "Voyageur Spirits." I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out
This will be my last post until it's finished! Probably in the week of Sept 19th!
One of the challenges of this composition was to interpret the rock on which the bottle is resting as wet. Obviously, the source image made it look that way, but I'm trying to enhance aspects of it to make the wetness even more obvious. So far, I'm happy with the results.