Walberswick Harbour

Walberswick Harbour has a particular stillness, even when the tide is moving. In this piece, the focus wasn’t on capturing a clean, postcard-style view, but rather the heavy, working shapes of the boats against the water and the wooden structures of the quay.

The challenge with watercolour in a setting like this is balancing the fluid transparency of the washes with the sharp, structural lines of the rigging and hulls. I wanted the ink work to feel immediate and slightly loose, mimicking the weathered surfaces of the vessels like the Zeus moored on the left. The block of ochre in the background anchors the composition, providing a warm contrast to the cooler greys and blues of the water.

In the foreground, the small rowing boat adds a sense of scale and quiet activity. It is less about a grand maritime statement and more about the everyday geometry of a Suffolk harbour—how the vertical masts cut through horizontal layers of mud, water, and sky.