Falmouth Harbour

This painting is oil on a smooth wooden panel – chosen deliberately because I wanted to build up layers of thinner paint to capture the complexity and charm that is the old harbour at Falmouth. The complicated skyline and the delicious clutter of old houses had to be accurate but not overworked, nor detract from the array of sunny boats on a sparkling sea. When I had worked it all out in my head I was able to indulge in the things that had appealed to me so much – the sunny criss-cross of ropes that linked the boat moorings to the clutter of little boats,the bright blue railings, the purple flags like sentinels around the cafe and the dark oily depths of the water near the harbour wall.