Once I found a boat made of bark that was called Darling. It was very beautifully made with a hold, rudders, a wheelhouse and cloth sails. But Daddy said I didn't have to find out who owned it.
Maybe nothing is so important provided that it is small enough. At least that's what I think.
- Sculptor's Daughter by Tove Jansson
#dailydrawing #tovejansson
Behind the Russian Church there is an abyss.
The moss and the rubbish are slippery and jagged old tins glitter at the bottom. For hundreds of years they have piled up higher and higher against a long dark-red house without windows. The red house crawls round the rock and it is very significant that it has no windows. Behind the house is the harbour, a silent harbour with no boats in it. The little wooden door in the rock below the church is always locked.
Hold your breath when you run past it, I told Poyu. Otherwise Putrefaction will come out and catch you. Poyu always has a cold. He can play the piano and holds his hands in front of him as if he were afraid of being attacked or was apologizing to someone. I always scare him and he follows me because he wants to be scared.
- Sculptor's Daughter by Tove Jansson
#dailydrawing #tovejansson
A solitary rowboat drifts across a muted, restless surface, unanchored and unattended. Rendered in charcoal, ink, and subtle white highlights, the vessel exists in a quiet state of motion—moving, yet going nowhere. The surrounding water is suggested through loose, rhythmic lines, emphasizing atmosphere and isolation over realism.
The boat is sharply defined against the hazy background, its dark contours and interior shadows contrasting with the soft, unsettled environment. Oars rest unevenly, implying recent human presence while reinforcing absence. The name Perditas—Latin for “lost”—is affixed to the hull, anchoring the emotional weight of the piece without explanation.
This work explores themes of solitude, uncertainty, and endurance. With no shoreline or destination in sight, Perditas becomes a reflection on drifting—physically, mentally, and emotionally—inviting the viewer to confront their own sense of direction within an undefined space.
The lake was busy with light, the grasses busy with wind, but the boat sat quiet against the shore. There is a gift in this tension: to be held still while everything moves, to be carried without effort, to find rest in the very heart of motion.
Super Nationals at the Gaylord—two rivers running through the lobby, actual boats gliding under glass ceilings, a nature center tucked between restaurants. Noise everywhere: kids, clocks, pawns and queens. Yet here, in the middle of it, a pause. A man leans back with the weight of waiting. A woman sits, at ease but still seeking. An empty chair remembers everyone who has rested there. In a place built to dazzle, what lingered with me was not the spectacle, but the silence. To draw is to honor the quiet within the clamor.
thinking and seeing for better being — https://forming20.com/
A boat floats at the center of swirling, vibrant blue waves, creating a sense of motion and energy. The contrast between the warm tones of the boat and the cool hues of the water highlights the image's dynamic composition.
4 year old Henry engaged fully with thick applications of watercolor and oil pastels. He said it was a stormy sea with a small boat. This was at the onset of the pandemic, when we were all a bit uncertain and confined to our homes. I was reminded of an insight by Kierkegaard written in the early 1800s: “When the sailor is out on the sea and everything is changing around him, as the waves are continually being born and dying, he does not stare into the depths of these, since they vary. He looks up at the stars. And why? Because they are faithful – as they stand now, they stood for the patriarchs, and will stand for coming generations. By what means then does he conquer changing conditions? Through the eternal: By means of the eternal, one can conquer the future, because the eternal is the foundation of the future.”
Journey presents a surrealist setting where a man is rowing his boat through a wondrous landscape, surrounded by buildings and stones with strange symbols and runes. A bright heavenly light illuminates the traveller's origin while a stark contrast is made with the vibrant blue light, from behind the walls, of this mysterious sunken building. This artwork is for sale on inkywinky.com.au
A serene coastal scene with a building structure in the foreground on a colorful blue water body, likely a canal or lagoon. In the background, there are boats floating on the water under a cloudy sky.
Watercolor commissions I did for a wedding theme around Mediterrano and Provence, here are a fisherman on his little sail boat, and a typical house within the lavender fields in Provence
This study is for an upcoming painting about the life of Christ.
The drawing itself took about two weeks’ time of working on it off and on. The
research stage took about two months. This study is attempting to capture the spirit
of being out on the water, walking with Jesus during a storm on the sea of Galilee. I
hope the viewer can feel Peter’s anxiety as he is sinking into the lake as a fierce storm
drains Peter’s faith in his ability to walk on water through the ability the Lord gave
him. I wanted to show how compassionate Jesus is to quickly crouch down to rescue
Peter from drowning and get him back to the safety of the boat with the rest of the
disciples, which is outside of the illustration.
Some people feel that I should have Jesus’s feet visible above the water so people don’t
get the notion that Jesus is sinking in the water too. But if I’d done that, it would have
altered what it would really look like in the natural world, because even if Jesus’s feet
were on top of the water, this might not be visible to the viewer because the waves in
front of Jesus might block the view of his feet.
This illustration makes me think about trying to accomplish a task that the Lord has
called us to do by depending on our own strength instead of the strength of the Holy
Spirit. Then we find ourselves sinking instead of making headway, and we must call
on the Lord to rescue us and put us back on the right track.
(September 22, 2015
Part of a personal project I'm working on right now, to experiment with new art styles and practice lettering skills by drawing animals. The color palette and symmetrical motifs in this one were inspired by the boats on Lake Xochimilco in Mexico, which is the last remaining place wild axolotls live.
