Paint Me a Ship

Robert Carter, Fellow, Honorary Life Member and Founder of the Australian Society of Marine Artists, and Fellow of the International Society of Marine Painters, is the author and artist of the maritime history Windjammers: The Final Story, published by Rosenberg in 2004. Paint Me a Ship is a unique, luxurious full-colour publication intended for marine artists and those with an interest in art generally who wish to understand the intricacies of painting a maritime scene. The term 'marine art' originally described the graphic portrayal of ships at sea or in a port, but today encompasses any scene that has water in it, as well as scenes in which no water is visible but that are in some way associated with marine activity, as well as sculpture, model making and scrimshaw. Carter's work as a marine artist has been guided by the line 'you paint me a ship as looks like a ship', from a poem by Cicely Fox Smith - a simple enough directive - but acquiring a knowledge of the anatomy of ships and their rigging remains an enormous hurdle for many an aspiring artist. In Part I: How to Approach a Marine Painting, Carter explains how to create the sea, sky and weather conditions that dictate what the sailing ship is doing and how it is behaving, using his own magnificent paintings and wonderful paintings by many other marine artists to illustrate the techniques, and ending with a gallery of over thirty of his own paintings. Each painting is accompanied by a short descriptive commentary. Part II tells of the founding of the Australian Society of Marine Artists and celebrates some seventy oil and watercolour works from members of ASMA, with descriptive commentaries, and includes examples of sculptures, models and scrimshaw.250 x 285 mm, 152 colour paintings, 11 colour photos, 3 b&w photos, 15 line drawings,