Continuing on the journey to create three works in one month that are pirate related... The second piece I wanted to create was a ship with pen and ink. Originally, I intended to look up what an authentic pirate ship looked like and sketch it out and ink it in. As I googled pirate ships, I was inundated with movie stills of pirate ships, which wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I decided to take my search in a new direction by researching famous pirate ships. I found a list, and in that list I found the ship I wanted to illustrate. The Whydah Galley. This large cargo ship was originally built to transport slaves, and therefore was built for speed. It was returning from it's first trip when Captain Black Sam Bellamy spotted it and decided to commandeer it. He successfully pirated with the Whydah Galley for the following year before sinking in the Nor'Easter Storm near Cape Cod in 1717. The back story made me want to illustrate this ship. I must admit, the previous-slave-ship-turned-pirate-ship appealed to me because-TAKE THAT SLAVE TRADERS!! The rest of it's history was icing on the cake. The night the Whydah Galley sank, it sank with 4.5 short tons of gold, silver and other treasures aboard. Only 7 people survived the storm and the wreckage. In 1984, the ship and it's treasures were discovered by Barry Clifford. It remains the only Pirate ship from the Golden Age of Piracy to ever be discovered. Satisfied in my research, I decided I wanted to illustrate the pirate ship on the night it sank, April 26th, 1717. Instead of making a black and white ink illustration, I was inspired to create the work in watercolor (It just seemed right) and finish it with pen and ink. Here's the thing, I don't normally work in watercolor, and I have never created artwork that I was satisfied with this medium. But I really, really felt the need to create this in watercolor; So, after a little bit of warming up and a few practice sheets, I dove right in. After painting the scene, I used an ink brush and fine tip ink pens to add the final details.
The Whydah Galley, April 26th 1717.
2 Comments
10/20/2022 05:45:02 am
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