This was my first attempt at painting. I don't think it's terrible. Well not for a first attempt.

The idea for the piece is not my own - it's loosely based on a painting by Frederic Flanet I saw a decade or more ago. The original is a million times better. I like the bright, vibrant colours against the subdued background.

I painted the piece with Daler Rowney System 3 acrylic paints on a canvas board. I first painted the background and then painted the boats over the top.

Strangely, I think the best-painted boat is the first one I painted - the blue one on the right. The fading on the sail came together quite nicely in a way that I wasn't able to recreate on the other sails. I decided to call it a day on the piece as I wasn't happy with the background - and reworking the sky and water once I'd painted the boats would be fiddly. It's an idea I'll revisit in the not too distant future.