Alan Sanders

Marine Artist

SAIL DRIVEN SHIPS

I have always had a fascination for oil paintings of majestic ‘Sail Driven Ships’ from a bygone era. These images capture the romance of the sea, and can stir the heart strings of a new generation. These ships and their sailors, whose skills could overcome all the challenges that the elements could throw at them, are an important part of our early New Zealand history.

This challenge appealed to me as an artist, – to try to capture on canvas with ‘brush and paint’ all the elements of ‘wind, water and light’ in a convincing way, as well as the technical aspects of painting traditional sailing ships with the correct rigging and sail configurations. This is no easy task and requires undertaking extensive research, and developing considerable skills as an artist.

Painting majestic sailing ships of the past, with a full set of sails in a running sea with dark clouds gathering, is a challenge not for the faint hearted.

Alan retired from the design industry and is now able to concentrate on his main love of oil painting, with his focus on marine art.

Alan’s former career was in the graphic design and advertising industry, and he is a life member of the Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ) and a founding committee member of the ‘Best’ Graphic Design Awards.