"I first saw this model boat when visiting the collection at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and was struck by its home-made character. Right away, it brought to mind the model-maker carefully completing his special project. I imagined him indoors under a warm light and yet dreaming about adventures on the high seas. As an artist I also spend much of my time indoors working on my projects and before I know it I realise time has passed and I've been absorbed in another world. This painting represents the inner world of the imagaination of the craftsperson.

The main thrust of the composition was created by arranging the light values in animated patterns. Though stationary, the boat seems to forge steadily ahead against the surging waves of the sailcloth. The dynamic shape of the cloth holds the excitement of the waves upon the sea. The light falls across the front of the sails and then ripples towards the stern in a rhythmic movement echoed in the repetition of the charts (or are they model plans?) to the folds of the sailcloth on the table, and then back up through the rigging and the forward sails. The movement ends with a quiet crescendo of the wave, not noticed at first, in part of a painting by Winslow Homer called 'Weatherbeaten' on the wall behind. Light bounces against the shiny surface of the bow as it slides through the 'water' and the silhouette of the raincoat on the chair continues the movement of the trailing wake that follows behind.

Moving on from the brightly lit areas of the painting the darker values operate on a secondary level representing the more mysterious and unknown aspects of adventure. The backlit diamond shapes in the chair become eyes in a world in which objects take on a life of their own. The framed picture becomes the fantasy of the boat or the artisan, and at the right all is seen of Homer's signature is 'mer' for the sea. The ornate gold frame represents the ideals of our dreams and as a compositional device allows the eye to move out and back into the painting.

In the lower right corner are the 'real world' objects that the model-maker uses in his craft bringing the painting into contemporary times. This area works as a still life in its own right.

Since this is a large piece I tried to organise the composition so that it would hold up on a small scale because the painting can be viewed from a distance. At the same time on close inspection the picture will have details that provide new surprises. The ornate frame, for example, on close examintation becomes a patchwork of abstract shapes that locks in to the representational illusion from farther away."

©2006 DOUG RUGH. Artwork may not be reproduced without permission.