Learn to draw by Tissa Hewavitarane

Painting boats on the sea

The sea is a colourful subject for any artist to paint. Boats, harbours and beaches are an endless source of material to draw and paint and children simply love it. So, many beginners have a fear of drawing boats thus their painting ability is lost and the outcome is a disfigured picture.

If you go step by step boats are not difficult to draw. First, understand the basic form of the boat, which is the same whether it is big or small. A subject like boats does not need great drawing skills, but it is important to know at least how to sketch the shape of a boat with the essential lines and after finishing the drawing with lines you may start to paint the first colour.

A first wash is made over the background with a transparent light colour. It is useful to remember in painting with water colours, the white of the paper, so whenever a colour is needed, a zone has to be reserved. You may observe the painting shown here which is a simple painting with less details of the sea and the boat. The colour of the sea should be painted with dark blue. The white of the sail and the boat should be shown as highlights in the sea. The brightness of the sea is obtained with the trails left by the brush strokes on the white of the paper.The background is made with a light blue wash. Notice the reflection of the boat shown on water by keeping the white with irregular horizontal brush strokes.

Do not worry over small details, but concentrate on the proportions. If you are painting more than one boat, make sure that they are not all the same size.

It is important to work on heavy grained paper as most effects cannot be done on thin paper. The drawing paper to be used 250 grams Kent paper with No. 2, 5 and 6 Sable hair brushes.