Well, I finished my boat painting and posted it on the gallery to be assessed by my fellow artists. At the time of my last blog post, I still had parts of the sky and the foreground to do. I also had to do the ropes. So decisions had to be made about all these elements. The sky was relatively easy as I wanted it to look slightly blustery - a proper seaside sky. I used patches of cobalt (Holbeins), ultramarine violet (a new colour to me which I am finding very useful) and cerulean. Rather than stroking the paint on I used the technique of almost scrubbing the paint onto the paper - pressing the brush right down the the belly of it and turning and twisting it against the paper to give the sky some movement and texture. Skies are not my strong point so I have to be brave and just bang the brush on and try and be dynamic. My sky in this painting isn't dynamic by many people's standard, but it is for wimpy me. The foreground was quite another matter. The boats were actually resting on a light brown muddy surface - the sort you get when the tide goes out. Brown mud is hardly interesting, so I had to come up with another way of painting this section. I tried various colours and combinations on a spare sheet or paper and the one that worked best seemed to be a purple shade. I used ultramarine violet, cobalt and put touches of yellow ochre here and there. I warmed the foreground up as I came round in front of the larger boat to give variety and suggest more light in this section. The ropes were a kind of grey colour but I decided that, to echo the white boats, I should add them in white gouache. I don't use white often but on some occasions it is very handy. I know the watercolour purists would faint with shock, but in the end it is all about what the painting needs and not the sensitivities of the art cognoscenti. Then it was stand back and assess the damage - sleep on it and see the painting still 'talked' to me the next day. It isn't the most wonderful painting I have ever done, but there are certain parts that I am pleased with and other parts that I need to remember to do differently in the next painting. All good fun though.