This is the third time I have painted Belfast Harbour's Victoria Channel waterway. This painting differs from the previous two by being based on photographs I took in winter. I photographed the site during winter to capture the range of greys - from the colder blue-greys of the water and clouds to the warmer brown-greys of the concrete and grit. The range of muted browns to reds was also of interest, with the red-browns of the rusting chain being picked up on and intensified in the red hull of the ship (the 'bulk carrier' of the title).
In addition to using photography to gather information for paintings, I am also interested in questions about the relationship between photography and painting - do these 'realistic' paintings represent the outside world or do they 'only' represent a photograph of the outside world?