Ocean Harbour is a very impressive safe haven, accessed by a narrow entrance leading into a (relatively) sheltered bay. I say relatively sheltered, because the inner bay is dominated by the wrecked Bayard, A three-masted ship built in Liverpool. This was moored on the other side of the harbour, when it broke loose from its moorings in a gale, drifted across the bay, and was wrecked on the rocks where it now lies.
Not much remains of the whaling station here, but it is nonetheless a very atmospheric place. I managed a very quick sketch of the Bayard before the rain set in heavily. Elsewhere, there is a steam locomotive, which excited Hergen, a German passenger, bits of track, and a lonely hut. A group of penguins stood near a few poles, all that remains of some indeterminate structure, made a good subject which I hope to paint in the studio.
On the way out of Ocean Harbour, I did a quick painting of the rocky headland. I used coloured paper with quite a rough texture. It was interesting trying to capture snow and sea highlights -the whites- using this colour paper. Tones are all relative, and in the end the contrast between the bare paper and the dark indigo line of sea below the cliffs gave enough contrast to suggest breaking waves. The background peak was done with a fairly thin wash of body colour, to suggest distance.
The painting lacks foreground interest, but I don't want to ruin it with some black flecks suggesting birds. I may do a larger scale bird painting using this as a background which would be more compositionally satisfying for me.
The paper, not being stretched, has cockled quite a bit, as you can see in the photograph. A bit of pressing should resolve this.
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