The linen canvas is prepared then thinly toned with blue/greys and yellows using acrylics.
The design for the painting is worked out on paper to full scale then transferred on to the canvas using blue artists chalk pastel.
This is fixed so that it wont smudge when worked over.
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The dramatic sky is laid in with oils in one working and allowed to dry. The sky is finished and wont be touched again.
While the sky is wet the drawing of the flare boom and crane etc. is carefully recovered from under the surface by scratching out the wet paint with a toothpick.
The sea is then roughed in with oils and the reflections are loosely indicated.
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To complete the first pass over the canvas, the major masses of the superstructure are loosely scrubbed in with thin oils.
In this close-up, the original drawing of the flare boom and crane can be seen through the scratched channels in the dried paint of the sky. There is still no paint on these strongly linear elements yet.
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Now opaque paint is used to create 3 dimensional form.
The darkest elements are worked into the shading of the rig and the sections against the sky are beginning to be worked up with paint. The crane is brought to completion using a palette knife.
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All the details are painted in and hi-lighting applied.
The large protruding flare boom is carefully shadowed and hi-lighted so that it sits against the sky without looking 'stuck-on' whilst still contributing as a major element to dramatic contrast, the effect I am trying to create in this painting.
Finally the water is refined and opaque hi-lights reflecting the gold light-burst in the sky are added.
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