Original artwork description:

In this piece, I celebrate the resilience and quiet strength of maritime life. The textures and vigorous strokes in tempera breathe life into the old boat, symbolizing both wear and endurance. The blues and whites contrast against the gritty dock, reflecting the spirit of the sea—ever-changing yet constant. This artwork aims to bring a sense of depth, reflection, and enduring calm into any space it inhabits.

This work is part of a "New breath" series created from field studies collected at the Dubosc shipyards (Granville, France) and Bernard shipyards [Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, France).
It’s always a moving moment to approach an old fishing boat. We observe the living texture of the wood weathered by waves like wrinkles on a face that let us guess what the person has experienced. If we knew how many hopes, how many efforts going beyond their limits, and how many hours of hard and exhausting work were spent on board these fishing boats? By combining different types of gessoes, allowing me to scratch the pictorial layers, I succeeded in finding a technique that gives the texture of this surface the memory of hard and noble work.

Materials used:

Tempera

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