Wednesday 29 April 2009

Studio Boat Afloat

Here she is, all spruced up and ready to go. New comfortable cushions, all waterproofed, new lino on the floor (wine corks image!) Lots of storage space for essentials, drawing materials, coffee, wine, warm clothes, maps, books and dog food. (yes, the art hound is being trained in seaworthy behaviour.)

Lots of jolly useful rope, some warm sleeping things for overnight stops,



That is the inside sorted. Here she is on her mooring, at the mouth of the very lovely Carn Creek, round the corner from Helford River. This is yesterday evening, we set off for her first little trip out to sea.



The paintwork is looking splendid and as we approach...




She turns slowly on the mooring and look, here she is




In all her glory... Spindrift, the studio boat.







All aboard and out to sea (I haven't finished the deck paint, but I will, on a good low tide, on a sunny day) Off we go... with me at the tiller, the sun behind us, all is well with the world.







And here is the wide open sea, with Falmouth glinting in the sunshine and a big sky.

I am so excited, Cornwall is beautiful from the sea. I am itching to get going and today, prompted by Vivien's blog post about the new bigger Moleskine watercolour sketchbooks, I took delivery of one A4 and one A3. They will be filled with sea, sky, sun and cliffs. Gulls, basking sharks, blue whales, Captain Nemo and Blackbeard...


A watery post script:


Here is the first sketch in the new large moleskine, it is 24 inches by 8 inches or 60 cm by 20 cm. Lovely thick paper that doesn't buckle no matter how wet it gets. This is the mouth of the river Helford, to see more detail you might have to visit my blog here. As you can see last night was a beautiful evening. Tonight it is grey, cold, wet and windy but so dedicated am I to understanding this thing called water that I have taken up the sport of gig rowing. Hugely enjoyable even in the bad weather. I did get a bit wetter than usual as the loyal dog Coco, my faithful art hound, decided, as her mistress rowed off into the stormy sea, that, rather than stay on the beach with all the other people, she would swim for as long as it would take and follow us! We were quite far out too, a boat goes fast with six people rowing! I had to haul her on board, soaking wet, a bit frightened and weighing a ton. She sat happily under my seat as we rowed about, a very good, absurdly loyal, wet art hound!

6 comments:

Jeanette Jobson said...

How fabulous. Spindrift is a beauty and you're lucky to have her.

What a lovely feeling to set sail out to sea and view the landscape and seascape from an entirely different perspective.

Yes, I'm envious. Completely.

Making A Mark said...

I'm looking at that last photo and remembering that the last time I took a boat out sailing I was in Greece! It's amazing how seeing land from the water takes you right back.

The boat looks briliiant Sarah and I'm really looking forward to seeing what you produce now you can go on trips.

Lindsay said...

There really isn't anything to compare with being ON the water. Just such a peaceful and adventurous perspective. Your boat is yar and how lovely that you have an art hound to loyally follow you out to sea. (Even when not exactly bidden!)Happy Sailing.

annie said...

I have been hoping that we'd get a thorough look-see at that boat! What a beauty and now you can Sail Away whenever you can get away.

Your first painting out on her. Looking forward to future big Moleskine adventures. The clouds are especially lovely when I enlarge the painting on the Reader.
annie

vivien said...

How brilliant! She looks utterly beautiful and yes, Cornwall from the sea is amazingly gorgeous. All those inacessible places you'll be able to reach/see - those moleskines are going to be full of wonderful things :>)

and Coco sounds gorgeous

Gesa said...

oh - what prospect! never been on boats other than ferries but i think i can just about imagine what this may do for your paintings. looking forward to seeing them.