Turning the Tide

I am fascinated by the art of JMW Turner. So when I visited London, I stopped by the Tate Museum on one of my first outings. Turner bequeathed over 300 paintings to the Tate Museum. I spent hours quietly experiencing the wonder of his art. I was mesmerized by his explosion of colors and details. 

A few days after the Tate, I went to Trinity Buoy Wharf to see and sketch what I thought was London's only Lighthouse. My heart leaped when I saw a lightship anchored near the lighthouse. A lightship is a floating lighthouse. So there were two not one lighthouses in London. 

The Lightship was now converted into a music studio. I was spellbound by its presence. It seemed pregnant with stories of its past. 

As I sketched the Lightship,  I thought about Turner and wondered how to translate my admiration for him into a work of art. 

Back in the United States, I looked at my yellow foreground and became inspired when I read how much Turner used yellow. According to the book "How to Paint like Turner” some of his most daring and experimental innovations centered around his use of yellow. It seems to have been his favorite color and he used it liberally. " "For more than thirty years his use of yellow became one of the most frequently mentioned aspects of his art, with critics variously accusing him of 'yellow fever.’

With Turner in mind, I threw a splash of colors on the paper. When I finished I was delighted when the lightship emerged. It is one of my favorite paintings. ​

LIGHTSHIP 95