Shenandoah of Sark – South Georgia

I’ve been working on a commission – a very complex one, but one with quite a nice story behind it too I think . . . the world’s prettiest three masted gaff schooner – ‘Shenandoah of Sark’.

One of my first ever sales of a large yachting painting through my London gallery was of the same yacht at the Jubilee Regatta in 2001 – and a nice feeling as it went to the owners which is the biggest endorsement of my work.

Since then, the yacht was sold along with the painting being sold separately too. With a twist of fate, the gallery owner knew the new owner of Shenandoah and reunited the yacht and the painting again.

The new owner then wanted another painting as a reminder of a once in a lifetime trip to South Georgia, where they also delivered a bath that Shackleton used, to the museum on the island.

Obviously – if you’re in South Georgia, there’s no one to photograph you, as you’re on your own, so there’s no photos of the yacht good enough to use in situ. We have to compose the scene from all we have including all the photos of the trip.

We had a great start with the yacht reference after a photo-shoot at St.Tropez. Now we had to find reference for the South Georgia coast and then drop the yacht into the background.

This meant finding a suitable backdrop, adding some icebergs and adjusting the crew numbers and clothing to suit the climate. (A bigger job than it may seem!) Finding a suitable backdrop from limited reference with the light in the correct position is harder than it seems and took many, many hours of research.

As the sailors were in summer tee-shirts and shorts in the St.Tropez photo, these needed to be replaced with winter/Antarctic clothing. I had limited reference of what they were wearing, but not from the correct angles!

Creating a scene has its challenges, but I’ve managed to produce a painting that fulfils the brief and is a reminder of an epic trip that’ll never be forgotten.

Another happy customer!

Not available in print at the moment.