Quarter Gallery

The First Steps
How a yacht race painting takes shape...

A painting of a historic race such as the one above of Reliance and Shamrock III in 1903 America's Cup, can take weeks to prepare.

The Race

Research

I like to begin with finding out the details of the race from the location, time of day, weather and wind direction and the sea state on the day. All of this gives me a feel for how the light will be used in the composition: whether it will be better to have the yachts beating into wind or gull-winged with the light coming through the sails. Which would work better with a choppy sea or calm reflective water.

Sketches

From first ideas to detailed drawings

Next I can move onto some quickly drawn work up sketches with boats at different angles and stages of the race to decide which idea has the most impact visually. Once I have a clear idea of the composition, I will begin a detailed sketch of each yacht. There may not be any good photographs or indeed any pictures of older yachts, which is where the original plans from the yacht designer will come in. I can use these to accurately draw the yacht starting with the mast at the correct angle for my composition and working down to the hull. I include the keel in the drawing to see how the hull sits in the water

Once I have these bare bones, I can make drawings of all the different fittings and also how the rigging works. All the early yachts made for the America's Cup were unique with different innovations. Reliance for example, had a telescopic mast.
All of this planning has to happen before even the first mark is made on the canvas. Then the fun begins...

Race information copyright A Hundred Years of the America's Cup

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