Some of you may remember a blog post I wrote in January about the sketches and paintings I had done of the lovely sailing boat Britannia. It was quite a challenge for me, as it was a large painting and I wanted to convey how beautiful she was and convey a sense of optimism for the future.
I did a lot of sketches first and then a final painting (which is below). They were exhibited with a number of other stunning images of the boat. Until the exhibition, the trust only had photos of the boat taken in the 1990s and earlier, which, though they provide a moving and evocative archive of Britannia’s history, none of them were of good enough quality to make reproductions from. The trust plan use the new images to produce a series of cards, Giclee prints and other items and sell them at various events to raise funds to help towards her restoration.
When she is restored the trust plan to use her to help raise awareness of the issues surrounding climate change, especially plastic pollution and the effect on the world’s oceans. Since David Attenborough’s Blue Planet 2 series highlighted the shocking effect of plastic waste in our seas a lot of people have become aware of what a serious problem it is, but the Britannia Trust have been trying to highlight this problem for several years.
They have also produced a lovely film which tells Britannia’s story in more depth. It’s deeply moving and well worth watching the film it’s almost an hour long, so settle down with a cuppa, put your feet up and enjoy!
Meanwhile, my finished painting was very well received and will hopefully raise some money for this very worthy cause.
Cindie Reiter Fine Art 