About Prints

If you like wooden boats, you’ll love these prints by Kathy Bray.

Detailed and accurate profile depictions of some of the best-known sail and power boats ever built of wood, these prints are sure to please art critics, collectors, and wooden boat lovers alike.

A boat’s profile as depicted by Kathy produces as informative and compelling a rendering as you’re apt to see anywhere — below the waterline as well as above. It’s an entire view that goes beyond most photos and plans. To create these drawings, Kathy first researches the boat’s design. This involves the study of building plans, models, contemporary and historic photos, and may even include traveling to view the actual boat if it still exists. Once the information is gathered and studied, Kathy does a rough drawing which is double-checked by her dad, Maynard, and corrected as needed. Next, she inks precision outlines, then adds watercolor both by hand and airbrush. Pencil shading follows, adding realism in indicating the contour of each hull.

Kathy’s solar-powered studio is located on a Maine island, where she prints her images “off-the-grid” on 80# off-white archival cover stock with archival inks, and carefully inspects each one to ensure that it matches the original rendering. A caption listing the boat’s particulars runs along the base of each image, and a surrounding border enables framing without a matt. But these lovely prints really deserve matting, museum glass, and a top quality frame.