This is another painting from a favourite harbour in Kent. In the summer it is bristling with Thames Sailing Barge masts and sprits as it is one of the few places left where they have the traditional skills to repair and restore these magnificent working ships.

In the winter they erect these polytunnels over the boats so that they can work on through the bad weather. Many of them are also the skippers homes.

For this painting I had the luxury of a whole afternoon, a long time for me but rather than do two or three sketches I wanted to really take advantage of the relatively constant light and try to produce something a little more considered so I took a little time to check the proportions and perspective and again it is a little larger than usual at 12" x 16". The palette was Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Jaune Brillante, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Cobalt Blue and Cerulean Blue plus Underpainting White.

A shepherd came by when the the grass was still in cadmium red underpainting and drily remarked that he had always thought grass was green and reckoned his sheep probably did as well but he thought I had got the rest of it about right! The hoofprints full of water helped to break up the mud in the foreground with little accents of reflected light.