They say write what you know. Maybe also paint what you know?
At home in my studio I pulled out some photos, and one that caught my eye was a Washington State ferry gliding through the San Juan Islands. The ferry looked very small in the photo, yet getting the shape just right is a must when painting a well-known Northwest icon. Such was my reasoning when I dusted off my Artograph MC250, projected the photo onto watercolor paper, and traced the vessel form.
From there I continued my usual big-brush procedure: 1) paint a dilute cerulean and raw sienna sky; 2) paint a dark ultramarine, burnt sienna, and cerulean land form around the boat shape; 3) pull down reflections from the land into the water area; 4) brush horizontal water lines to form the water, using the same colors; 5) finally, detail the ferry with a tiny brush
I was fairly happy with the result. Ferries have been painted millions of times, but why not again!
KC