Thursday 9 June 2011

Lobster Buoys


Whilst travelling along the coast of Maine it is quite common to see old lobster buoys hung up outside houses.  There is something appealing about the aged ones that you see, the variety of colours is what appeals to me along with the imperfections.

In gift shops in some of the towns you come across hand decorated painted buoys offered as household ornaments, these just do not do it for me !

Their main purpose is to be tied to the rope that is then attached to the lobster pot when it is dropped into the sea.  The buoy, as like other buoys floats on the surface and each fisherman generally has their own colour buoys to identify their lobster pots.  The modern buoys are now made out of plastic.

Whilst in Maine I started to paint several buoys taken from the image above.  I used Daniel Smith watercolour paints along with some from my normal palette, that consist of Winsor and Newton and Old Holland Artist watercolours.  The painting was completed on Strathmore 400 cold-pressed watercolour paper, which I loved using.  It was a welcome change after using hot-pressed paper for a long period of time.

2 comments :

  1. How exciting, Sarah, that you visited Maine. We live there 6 months of the year and often go to the coast for an ocean fix! Very interesting to see your lobster buoy painting. Nicely done! I have done much photography along the coast but not much painting there yet. Our next visit will be later this year so hope to get to the coast for some drawing and painting. I enjoy your blogs, so full of info and illustrations. Your work is beautiful. Happy Painting to you and hope you get to visit the rocky coast of Maine again soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Carole. I would dearly love to get back there. We have family in New Hampshire, so hopefully one day soon.

      Delete

It is always lovely to hear your comments. Please feel free to leave them here and I will approve them asap.