Paint this beautiful tropical scene featuring this bright red sailboat with ease. The boat sailed across the bay and anchored at our camping beach. It was the reddest red boat I’ve ever seen—so powerfully vibrant against the turquoise tropical water. I just had to paint it.

Rangiputa Beach in New Zealand.

 

Richard Robinson, Gone Ashore, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 16” (30 x 40 cm)

 

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Student critiques

The red sailboat, acrylic with oil glazing on canvas, 15¾ x 19½” (40 x 50 cm)

Elena Sokolova

Solid work, Elena. Looks great!

Red sail boat, oil on panel, 12 x 15” (30 x 38 cm)

Mark Price

Hey Mark, great work here. Punchy colors and nice interest in the background particularly with the trees. You’ve also got beautiful vibrant colors in the water. I’d just suggest you trim a little off the bottom of the back of the boat, add a little shade to the mainsail and trim its reflection a little, because although it looks great with all the right colors and movement, it’s grown too big for what it’s reflecting.

Red Sailboat, oil, 12 x 16” (30 x 38 cm)

Louise Villegas

Hi Louise, good job with the drawing of the boat, the vibrant colors throughout and the painterly wet-in-wet brushwork. I like that you’ve lightened the red in the back of the boat, but it could stand being a little darker around the motor, which should be blocking some light on that surface. The reflection of the boat and sail could do with another try. Currently they’re too light and too regular or pattern-like. A helpful exercise for you would be to paint on a separate canvas a few of these watery reflections using just black and white paint, (after converting the reference image into black and white). That would take color out of the equation for you for a while so you could just focus on the shapes and the values. Every painting is practice for the next one. Enjoy the process!

Red Sailboat, acrylic and oil

Nancy Newton

Hi Nancy, nice to see you doing this one. Your extra dark background has really made the light on the beach pop out—very tropical! Your colors in the water and boat are good too. Lovely calligraphic brushwork in the reflections. That’s not easy to do, and you gave it a sterling effort! You’ve scumbled it a bit in there though, leaving some of the wavy shapes less resolved than they could be. Still though, it’s very nice. Last little thing—your wires on the boat should be angling up towards the top of the mast.

The Red Boat, acrylic

Eric Hillmer

Hey Eric, lots of beautifully painted engaging detail in this one. Lovely to see the camping situation brought to life and the crisp details in the boat. I’d advise removing the tent behind the mast as it competes with the foreground. It looks to me like you lost your way in the water there whereas the rest of the painting is very well finished. To get a grip on this complex subject I’d recommend you do the same as Louise and paint a few studies of this section in just black and white. It works wonders.

The Red Boat, oil on canvas board, 9 x 12” (22 x 30 cm)

Fay Thomson

Hi Fay, I love your approach with this one. The color is scintillating, and your brushwork is beautiful and painterly. I like that you changed the composition and tried to balance the boat on the left with that long elegant dark reflection. However, what is that a reflection of? That’s the question it leaves me asking. You might have been better off using a squiggly line of sea foam instead. Other than that hiccup, gorgeous!