Today was the first day painting rust, and I used scissors to convert a brush I haven’t used before to create my rusted hull. When I first saw this inspiration photo for day 18 of boatober I wasn’t very inspired, but I actually had a lot of fun creating this sketch because I of the colours and techniques I used to create the rust.

What is Boatober?

Boatober is an annual art challenge hosted by Doug Jackson. He posts 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, and I’m using it as an opportunity to experiment with different ink and watercolour techniques.

Boatober 2025 Day 18

Enjoyment Level: *****

I love the bleak feel of this sketch, and how the rusted hull of the boat really makes it stand out.

Painting the Sky and Foreground

The sky and the foreground mud are both varying combinations of Colbalt Turquoise Light and Indian Red. This is one of my new favourite watercolour combinations because of the soft greys it can create.

I’ve had Colbalt Turquoise Light in my palette for a while, but the Indian Red is a new addition, and I have actually been using it a lot for mixes.

I thought I’d messed up the sky. I did my splatter technique, but spent too long splattering the sky in small segments. When I joined the splatters up with clean water, there were visible dots where the paint had already sunk into the 100% cotton paper. So I had to layer on another glaze of paint to make them recede a bit. The sky has granulated nicely because it has more Colbalt Turquoise Light than Indian Red.

Painting the Rusty Hull

A reel popped up on instagram the other day. The artist was using a flat-tipped paintbrush she’d trimmed herself, to paint cat fur.

I don’t have any desire to paint pet portraits, but I thought a brush like this might be good for rendering foliage and grasses.

So I grabbed a similar brush (size 4) and attacked it with small scissors. I didn’t think I’d actually get to use it soon, but lo and behold, next day I had this boat sketch, and the hull had horizontal lines across it.

This brush actually worked really well to create those horizontal lines without making them stand out too much, like ink lines would have done. I think it’ll probably work well for wood graining.

So I’m glad I gave him this spiky haircut!

I thought I’d finished my boat picture. But I had to go out before I could post it on instagram. But when I came back to it later, I realised I needed to keep adding rust to the hull because it wasn’t dramatic enough.

The colours I used for the rust:

Walk Away from your Sketches

I learned a valuable lesson today. To walk away from your sketch and leave them to percolate for a while. Then when you come back to them, you can assess them with a fresh set of eyes.

It’s much better to take a break and come back to assess your sketch. Than keep ploughing on with it, and run the risk of overworking it.

I’ve also realised that I’m usually a bit tentative with adding blacks and heavy shadows. This is odd, because the art that appeals to me the most is that which has a lot more contrast than I have a tendency to add. I’m going to be mindful of this for the rest of the month, and make sure my boat scenes have a good range of tones, that include enough white and black, and a variety of greys.