My boatober 2025 post for the first seven days was epic and very long, so I’m switching to more frequent blog posts for this challenge. 

What is Boatober?

Boatober is an annual art challenge hosted by Doug Jackson. He’s posting a different inspiration photo each day, and artists around the globe, sketch the scene in their own style. This is the first year I’ve participated, I’m getting more comfortable with the unpredictability of splattered skies, and my boat sketching is getting a little more relaxed.

Boatober 2025 Day 10

Enjoyment Level: *****

Oh my! This is my favourite sketch of the challenge. I love the unsymmetrical shape of the overall shape of the sketch which makes it feel organic and interesting.

I also love the sky. Originally it was my muted blue shade from FUM and Indian Red, but then I mixed in a few splashed of Opera Pink/Opera Rose into it, and it transformed the sky into something a lot my dynamic and interesting because of the areas of lilac.

The sand is primarily Quin Gold, which is fast becoming a “how the hell have I lived without this!” colour. I mixed in a little orange to brighten some of the areas up. I really like how this colour combination of the sky and sand works together, separated by a weak mix of blue for the ocean.

When I look at this scene, it feels like the sky and the sand are the stars of the show, and the boats are there simply to act as props. Initially the boats were monochromatic, but I did add some colour to the featured boat to bring it forward and feature it a little more than the other three smaller boats. But even with this addition of some spot colour, none of these boats compete with the foreground and background.

The sky for the 15 minute sketch was a bit too vibrant, but I didn’t want it to go to waste. I simplified the scene a lot and only included the main boat. The perspective is a bit warped, but it doesn’t offend me. I liked the sand and shadows and would like to play around with sand again soon.

I’ve usually avoided wet-in-wet. I like waiting for my layers to dry, and then glaze them with another layer, so that I can achieve hard edges between the colours, but through this art challenge I’ve realised that the best way to get texture and depth in these large areas is to work wet-in-wet, and work incredibly loose, e.g. just splash it on and move it around, not getting too precious, and crossing your fingers that the results are pleasing to the eye.

I’m hoping that the more I practice these techniques, the more I’m going to know what I like and how to achieve the results I’m aiming for. Over the past few days I’ve created some skies I’m really happy with, and some I’m not.

Now I just need to figure how to repeat my successes, and avoid my mishaps! Welcome to the wonderful world of creative experimentation!