Canning Dock, built in 1709, was the world's first enclosed commerical dock. It was abandoned as a commerical shipping facility in 1972 but was soon restored from 1983.
As a well - used, historic space, Canning Dock has been witness to some great history and has a plethora of its own stories to tell. For artist Ian Smith, Canning Dock became the perfect picture for his next painting, where he captures the heart of the waterfront at sunset.
Here he shares stage three of capturing the Canning Dock on canvas.
Hi every one and welcome to stage three!
I’ve got my head in the clouds…
I've been adding hues of orange, yellow, white to the sky again, mixing in the paints with water and a brush and using my technique of rubbing in the paint with a damp cloth. I've also added some blue in the sky to break up the other colours.
The sky is such an important aspect to this painting. It’s important that it has depth so I keep building on the perspective until I find a happy place(!) I've enclosed an image for you of the canvas in black and white, this is my own artist’s trick to help me look at the painting objectively. I must admit I am undecided at the moment; I might go back to having the sky all yellow, or maybe more orange(?) and apply a different colour lower down as I feel the blue isn’t working out.
I seem to be struggling with the creativity now, but I hope I can get moving and make some headway with the canvas. I am aiming for a simplistic look - but one that has an impact! I am sure I will get there!
Troublesome easel
So much for buying what I thought was a better easel! This easel, like the others before it, is still trying to jinx my working on the canvases. It doesn’t seem to want to sit still! if it's not moving round its falling flat on its face. I can't work in these conditions, haha! I might as yet get an easel that will agree with me so it's either work on and persist or leave the art until I can get a sturdier easel.
Next Stage Four
I really hope for the next stage the sky will be well and truly sorted and also the water. I must say the canvas does look a bit sorry at the moment, I hope this will change for the better next time.