Inspired by the Ionian Sea

by Jane
(Suffolk UK)

After a lovely summer holiday sailing on the Ionian Sea in Greece I was inspired to try painting a boat scene using some of Mark's painting water techniques. I love using the transparent colours, but the early stages seemed just too dark and "in your face" ... so I added some titanium white which immediately seemed to kill the life in the painting ... aaagh!

As I paint on MDF boards I put it in the sink and washed off most of the white and then had a very happy accident when I realised that the fractal half-washed patterns actually looked reasonably like the calm surface of the Ionian.

I used some sand to create some texture on the boat deck and painted through a cleaning cloth to create the texture on the upper deck.

The winch was problematic in that it is on the curving cabin roof, but it looked quite odd so I've ended up with something of a compromise ...

.... perhaps I just need to go back to Greece to study the boats a bit more ....

**MAY 2016 - MARK UP AGAINST MELANOMA - PLEASE HELP**