Making progress with the boat

The boat is finally stripped back to clean wood. I suspect the newest layers of paint were domestic quality  gloss paints and came off quite easily with chemical stripper but the oldest layers proved very stubborn so I think they were probably marine quality. I had to resort to using an electric sander, which I had hoped to avoid. I didn't know what I was going to find beneath the paint but had always hoped it would be a reasonable quality wood with a nice grain that would stain and varnish up nicely. As you can see, I am not disappointed.

I had to remove the dark wood 'trim' around the edge of the hull in order to get all the paint off the deck, and unfortunately it split and broke during the removal, so I'll have to think of how to make some new 'trim'. Another issue is that the electric sander (not me of course  ;)) has left gouges in the surface of the wood, examples of which you can see just below that large knot. I will have to sand those away, probably by hand. Also, the bow is rather battered and uneven, so I think I'll have to fill that out with Wood Filler to restore a smooth and sharp structure.

One big problem going forward is a support for the boat while I'm working on it. Clamping the keel in my workmate is how I've managed so far but the keel has a curved surface so tends to 'wobble' its way loose. 

I decided I needed to fashion some sort of  'jig' to support the boat, possibly along the lines of the real life jigs that we see in the marina's. What I knocked together is certainly not the best bit of woodwork I've ever done but it does the job. 

The story of the boat so far ...

1. A toy that's never been played with

2. An intriguing discovery

Boys and their toys

One thing I'd always fancied owning was a remote control car. Obviously, when I was a boy back in the days before the ark, there were no such things as radio controlled vehicles, and during my working years, there were far too many other priorities for a 'toy car' to figure in my thinking. But now I'm retired, and with little else to think about, my inner child is able to come to the fore.

Looking around on the internet I researched the various types of car from kiddies toys to adult scale models, from really fast racing cars to really slow trucks. It didn't take long to settle on the type of vehicle I wanted. They are called "Rock Crawlers", a name derived from the fact that these vehicles are much slower than regular cars but have the ability to crawl and climb over rocks and other obstacles. Not wanting to be restricted to flat and level surfaces, and not having the reactions for fast action, this type of vehicle ticked my boxes perfectly. 

After months of very enjoyable research reading articles, watching videos and studying reviews, I settled on the HPI Toyota FJ Venture Cruiser. This is a scale model of a Toyota FJ 4x4 and the detail is most impressive, as is it's driving capabilities. I had numerous hard landscaping projects going on in my garden at the time so had plenty of opportunity to drive this beast up and down mountains of earth, and send it clambering over rocks and boulders. It is also extremely weather proof so, as you can see from the photo's, negotiating deep snow drifts is no problem for it.

Yeah! I'm just a big kid at heart .... and proud of it!! LOL.

Buddy

 

"Buddy"

After the success of the last double dog portrait I did for my nephew, my sister and brother-in-law asked me to do another for their friend who has recently lost his Collie called Buddy. 

Once again it is with Pastel Pencils. I have always avoided Pastels because my one brief early attempt with them was a disaster and created nothing more than a horrible, dusty mess. I decided they just weren't for me. When someone bought me a small tin of Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils I attempted to paint a tiger and was very surprised with the result. Now they are my medium-of-choice when faced with a pet portrait to paint. I remain in awe of all those who can create their art using the chalky stick variety.

Other animal portraits on my web site

Gorilla

Tiger

Rocky and Alfie

An intriguing discovery

Here's where I'm at with my model boat.... stripping paint. As you can see there are many layers .... bright blue, dark blue, green and then white. What is exciting is that I have uncovered something I'd never expected, and I'm kicking myself for not taking a photograph before the paint stripper did it's job. 

On the rear of the hull, sorry 'Stern', on what I believe is called the Transom, I uncovered the boats name. It is "Maud", but I can't tell whether it has letters in front of the name (ie SS, MV, SY, HMS, etc). 

In my first post about this project I said this boat had been picked up by my father in poor condition, and renovated by him, but now I'm wondering if that's incorrect. You see, my father was one of 6 siblings (5 boys and a girl) and he was the youngest. His only sister was the eldest of the siblings and looked after her youngest brother as only 'big sisters' can and they were very close. Her name was Maud. Coincidence, or did this boat actually belong to my father? There is no one left of that generation for me to ask, so I'll never know... but it's nice to think maybe it was, and it makes my decision to keep it this long all the more special.

My first post about "Maud"

A toy that's never been played with

Kitten on fence

 

As you will all know, I run a small Art Forum on my web site. My site and the forum are specifically aimed at encouraging beginners to art in the hope that we can help them through that initial "I can't do this" phase. 

To that end we run a few projects and challenges and one of the most popular is the Monthly Painting and Drawing Project which invites all the members to paint or draw the same subject. Members often find themselves attempting a subject that they wouldn't normally attempt, and the expression "out of my comfort zone" is very common.

Being outside of one's 'comfort zone' is an excellent place to be because it causes you to have to try harder and it leads to more mistakes, and as we know, 'mistakes' are where you do all you're learning. There's not a lot to learn from something that you can do easily and competently.

One of the members chose this picture of a kitten walking along the top of a fence for one of the challenges. I can't imagine I'd have ever chosen this subject to draw under normal circumstances but I really enjoyed doing it. My young granddaughter loved the picture too, so it's now hanging on the wall of her bedroom. Happy days!!

Some more Pencil drawings from my web site

Rain Stops Play

Sunset Over Buttermere

Sunny Daffodil

Steps at Robin Hoods Bay

 

 

Robin Hoods Bay is the most delightful coastal village I think I've ever been to. It is set into the Yorkshire cliffs and in the 18th century was reputed to be the busiest smuggling community on the Yorkshire coast. Hiding places, bolt holes and secret passages abound and wandering through the narrow alleyways between the houses it's easy to feel the presence of smugglers passed.

When there a few years ago I took many photographs and this one looking up a pathway of cobbled steps was one of my favourites. To make the centre area around the steps the main focus of the scene I knew I would need to lay in plenty of darks tones, keeping the pathway light but working with ink, that's not so easy. My original plan for this ink work was to produce a vignette-style drawing, but that didn't work out as I'd planned, though I'm not displeased with the result.

For anyone interested, I have a full Work In Progress page on my main web site that shows my progress and my changing thoughts as the drawing progressed. I hope you have a look at it.

More views from Robin Hoods Bay

King Street
(Pencil)

Haberdashery
(Pen and Wash)

New Road
(Pen and Wash)

Steps to Front Door
(Pen and Ink)

Coastal View
(Pen and Ink)

A toy that's never been played with

I have a model (toy) boat that was given to me when I was a young boy nearly 70 years ago. I understand it was picked up in poor condition by my father who painted it and fashioned a rough mast, and my mother sewed some material to make a very rough sail. This was back in the days when toys weren't an everyday occurrence as they are now. Though I'm sure we must have tried this out on a local boat pond at the time, I have no recollection of it ever being on water. I doubt it ever worked properly, but the sentiment behind it is immense and I've never been able to part with it.

Recently I have brought it down from it's lifetime in the attic and decided, rightly or wrongly, to re-fashion it and make some sort of display model out of it. I like shiny varnished wood and so that is the direction I'm heading. I am in the process of stripping multiple layers of paint off and sanding the hull ready for staining and varnishing, however, for reasons of space, I think I would like to do away with the tall mast and sail and maybe add some sort of cabin superstructure to try and move it one small step nearer to being 'model' rather than 'toy'. Watch this space!! 

Boat paintings on my web site

Fishing Boat

Barmouth Viking II

Boat In Torbay

Irish Church

 

Many years ago, we went on holiday to Ireland and stayed in the south in County Kerry. One day we were driving along a quiet country lane and unexpectedly came across this semi-ruined church. It was intriguing because the back wall, where I imagine there was once a stained-glass window, was caved in and yet the graveyard looked recently used. To add to the intrigue, there was a good degree of rubble just inside the caved in window yet all the pews appeared to be present and intact. 

I first drew this church in pencil back in 2010. More recently I was looking through my photo's for a suitable subject to set as the Monthly Painting and Drawing Project in my forum, and this one jumped out at me as we hadn't had a building as a subject for a while. As usual, the members tackled this in a variety of media, but my choice was to try Pen & Ink this time. 

Other Pen & Ink drawings on my web site

Midhope Castle

Boat in Torbay

Scarborough Toll House

Rocky & Alfie

A while ago, when the second of my nephew's two dogs passed away, my sister asked me if I'd be able to do a painting for him that included both dogs together. Obviously I agreed to do what I could and asked her to send me some photo's. 

When I received the photo's I was far from happy. Rocky, the small collie, was never looking at the camera, and all the pictures of Alfie, the German Shepherd, had his fur drenched with water and plastered down. I couldn't see any way I could get a decent painting from the references I had. I considered using artistic licence to paint Alfie dry, with ears up and soft, fluffed up fur, but doubted my artistic skills would stretch that far.

I spoke to my sister about my dilemma and suddenly things didn't seem so hopeless. She explained that Alfie was a terror for diving in the river. Every time he went out for a walk it was his destination of choice and he always came home soaked through. Even other walkers my nephew met along the way knew Alfie as the dog that swam in the river. Getting wet was his character and it would be nice to remember him that way. As for Rocky, despite his strong name he was a timid dog who looked up to Alfie and followed him everywhere .... except in the river.

Other animal portraits on my web site

Eagle

Gorilla

Tiger

More Wood Burning

 

For my third attempt at Pyrography (wood burning) I thought I'd try a more complete scene, with greater detail and tonal values than my first two experimental efforts. I chose this view of a cottage beside the Grand Union Canal because its a scene I've drawn and painted several times before, and because it offers a wide range of textures ... water, brick, foliage.

I knew I wouldn't be able to burn this freehand so used Carbon paper to trace out some rough outlines as a guide. Again I found the nib of the burner 'snagging' on the wooden surface. Most of the time this was quite annoying but it actually helped when it came to drawing the water. Most of the drawing was approached in much the same way as drawing with a pen, the main difference being the speed of movement .... slow moves producing thicker, deeper lines and fast moves producing thinner, shallower marks.

Wood burning is quite an enjoyable process so now I need to buy myself some better wood so I can tackle something proper.

Previous posts on Pyrography

Pyrography
First attempt

Pyrography
Second attempt

The same scene drawn
with Pen & Ink