Snapper Boat Study | 9×12 | Oil on Panel

Inspiration for Snapper Boat Study

I painted Snapper Boat Study as a demo for an oil painting workshop. In the workshop, I taught about how to harness the power of modern oil pigments—specifically Phthalo Blue, Napthol Red, Hansa Yellow. So for this study, a scene full of “grays,” I packed those neutral hues with vibrancy! Although I pushed those color nuances here, the trained eye can really see a lot of these hues in real life. I believe one of the breakthrough moments for any artist is perceiving these varied hues and being able to interpret them into paint.

The scene depicts Pensacola’s last shrimp boat marina, a seafood wholesaler located directly behind Joe Patti’s. Although I usually focus on the shrimp boats when I paint there, the other vessels present nice subject matter also. From what I’ve learned, these more normal-looking craft are mostly snapper boats. You can view another example in my painting Commander’s Launch.