Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Tugboat


I have always wanted to paint a tugboat but you would be suprised how hard they are to catch sitting still. I don't know where they park em' when they are not in them but it's nowhere that I have access to on the Cumberland River. I actually caught this one sitting downtown. I attempted a painting after a PAN paintout one Saturday and the boat turned out but the rest didn't. I had a photo of the river in Cheatham County and put them together and voila, a tugboat painting.
I think being a tugboat captain would be the second best job in the world (right after painter). They are incredible pieces of machinery. We stood on a boat ramp on the Mississippi River one time and watched a tugboat with about 4 barges in front of it go UPSTREAM. The current looked like it was moving at about 75 miles an hour and he just cruised right by. The ground where we stood actually shook when he went by. And if you get a chance there is a video on the web of a tugboat getting caught up against a bridge in a flood. It actually goes underwater, under the bridge and pops up on the other side, engines still running. Most boats would have come out on the other side as flotsam.

1 comment:

Doug said...

Nice job, Kevin! The tug is a lot more exciting chugging along that it would have been just sitting still.

Next you need to paint the General Jackson paddlewheel boat... :0)