Work in progress, day two.

The sky and early morning clouds get sketched in before giving the sea some shape and depth...

by roughing out each of the heavy seas  as they pass under her including the crest of the swell that the boat is just dropping down from.

New work in progress - sketching out and underpainting

Charcoal sketch on 30" x 20" primed canvas...

with maybe too much detail gone in on the boat, hard to spot are the two crew holding on to the rail just foreside of the hauler hatch...

trying to capture one of our netting fleet enjoying a not-so-comfortable day at the office away west of the Scillys.

More progress - the boat is now more recognisable as the Newlyn hake netter, Ajax!

The foreground waves need more work to help convey the power and relentless motion...

experienced by boats in heavy weather...

and as the sky is hugely dull there should be little in the way of contrast between the darkest and lightest areas...
 

of the waves in the foreground.

Work in progress...

Beginning to pick out detail in and around wheelhouse and stern of the boat...

and a little more on the water action as she takes another heavy sea...

changing the angle of the photo...

heavy seas are always a challenge to give the scene sufficient depth.

Work in progress...

In poor weather, weather too poor to haul the nets safely, the boats slowly 'dodge' head to wind...

and although the boat pitches and yaws as she heads straight into the weather it is much more comfortable for the crew than rolling with the seas 'beam on'...

some further detail has been added to give the heavy seas more substance.