Behold the before and after of Dark Sails, a 16×20 canvas I picked up at a thrift store for $1. I’ll venture that the original artist did not have any white paint, which is the only reason I can think of for this relentless field of black and blue. I liked the size and that it was nautical, but that’s it.
Originally, I wanted to make it a pirate ship, but the canvas wasn’t tall enough for the multi-mast monstrosity I wanted, even if I tipped it on the side. I sketched a couple of attempts, but then bagged it in favor of a more peaceful aquatic scene. We’ve started getting orca in the southern part of Puget Sound, so that was the inspiration. I haven’t seen the skyhop maneuver, but there was plenty of reference.
My husband has suggested my “this to that” projects are like tattoo cover-ups. And I guess that’s true. I try to keep a bit of the original or take inspiration from it, but I’m mostly painting over. The only bit I kept from this were the initials on the side of the boat. It was a bit bright, so I worked it into the orca’s splash zone and toned it down just a little bit with a blue wash.
I need to get better paint because now that I’m working on larger canvases, I’m starting to see the limitations of craft paints and cheaper student grade acrylics. They don’t have the coverage and dry super fast, even with a wetting agent. I can’t use too much water else I’ll spend half my day layering. I think this is as good as I can get with the materials at hand — I may try to paint over it if I pick up some better paint.
Onward.
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