This was near our hotel and all of us artists past this scene and went ooooh! So brightly coloured and great shapes.

I drew it the night before so I could work out the shapes and composition.

It was still a challenge though! I haven’t been mapping out before I paint on my board for a while but needed to with this one, complex shapes and fitting it together. Plus working out the parameters of the composition. I liked the top ends of the flags but it made the buoys too small, so I chopped the tops off.

I built up around the buoys first blocking in the background as it was the larger area. 
The hardest bit was getting the intensity of buoy colours but still keeping it light in tone – too light and it goes chalky.


It feels a risk this painting as its not what I’d usually do, but I enjoyed it and had two fellow artist paint the same subject with me.