Inspiration & Title

My entry for the Eternity Contest being held by

Ok the title is my homage to a Duran Duran song I’ve always loved titled “Night Boat”. The lyrics are below, although my manipulation is not a literal translation of the song. The piece ended up being rather suitable to the title. Really though I hope this piece evokes a feeling of longing and hopelessness. She's been waiting for what seems an eternity for her soul mate to find her. Yes, the sail is adorned with diamond swirls and some pink -- quite unlike a man's taste -- but this is her fantasy and it's the dark, beautiful boat she's longed for desperately. She feels hopeless and lies listlessly in the glistening, diamond shining sand, fearing he'll never find her ... not realizing the boat is silently making it's arrival in the midnight blue.

I had entirely different plans for this contest entry and even had chosen another stock from =AlinePotter-stock but I ended up creating the blue beach with some simple layer styles and fell in love with it. It switched my concept completely and I sought out a better suited female stock. I almost decided to use another stocker thinking this piece wouldn’t end up as my entry and I even went to the trouble to off completely cutting out the stock and recolorizing it but it just seemed wrong. I needed to balance it so I set off searching for something to make it fit … which is when I found the sailboat. It was plain and boring until I managed to manipulate it into this stunning black sailed boat (hello I love “burn” layer styles!). I saw this black pearl of a boat – of course I knew I would never name the piece something from Pirates of the Caribbean. That gave me new inspiration when I suddenly thought of the Duran song and I searched Aline’s gallery again and ended up with the laying down stock.

I searched for many different textures and ended up only using 1 to change the effect of the sand into a sparkly fantasy. Every other texture ruined the piece. I have such a hard time finding good textures that don’t ruin the clarity!

The final result was this piece although I didn’t do a good job of making the model not look as if she’s floating above the ground. My shading didn’t work so well but I tried a few methods and couldn’t get it any better. Anyway, I love the piece, especially that black shimmering sand! Imagine how amazing it would be to see a real beach like that.

Thanks for taking the time to view my work.


Night Boat (Lyrics by Duran Duran)

Standing on the edge of a quay no lights flashing on the water for me
Fog in my mind darkens my eyes silently streaming for a distant sound
Ripple river yellows rising for a breath of breeding and drowns
Stillness overcomes me in the night listen to the rising water moan
I'm waiting, waiting for the night boat woo I'm waiting
Waiting for the night boat
Shadows all through me shudder away echo me echo me (echo me)
Am I alone or is the river alive cause it echos me, echos me, echoes me
I'm waiting, waiting for the night boat woo I'm waiting
Waiting for the night boat
Waiting (waiting) waiting for the night boat woo I'm waiting (waiting)
Waiting for the night boat waiting for the night boat woo I'm waiting
Waiting for the night boat I'm waiting for the night boat


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Other Details

Quickly came together in approx 6-8 hours.

Made using PaintShop 9 and a Wacom 6x8 tablet. I my tablet!!

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Stock Provided by:

Woman
Beach
Texture


StockXchng – Author: Juliec0211
|| Sailboat || Actual stock link here


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Brushes & Tubes Provided by:

Bird & Hair brushes Actual Stock link here: [link]

Flammepersona.com [link] (no longer online): Swirl brushes on sail