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To compose a painting

“B I Sunday” can be seen developing here. Two sketches are attached, 7 and 8 b. They represent a lot a combined effort, of thought, analysis, some detective work and insight. 

B I Sunday sketch 7
B I Sunday sketch 7

Swahili has a saying; haraka haraka haina baraka. In English meaning ‘hurry hurry has no blessing’. The phrase is an apt one for this painting.

This complex painting celebrates an event probably unique in merchant marine history when every wharf in the substantial port of Kilindini, Mombasa was occupied by ships of the same company. 

B I Sunday sketch 8 b
B I Sunday sketch 8 b

Below:

B I basics

Sketch 7

Sketch 8

Next

Context (a brief history of Mombasa)

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The British India Steam Navigation Company, or BI as it is more often known was formed in 1856.

B I was at one time the largest company in the British mercantile marine. B I was finally, entirely absorbed into P&O in 1972.

B I owned and managed 700 ships.

Sketch 7.
For those who recall my earlier sketches  made late November, you may notice sketch 6 isn’t shown here as 7 says it all.
You can probably read my working notes on ‘7’ however it will help us if I copy them here and expand a little upon the subject.
Finding the most appropriate composition has been perplexing me for some time.
The problem has quite replaced counting sheep for sleep.
I have made a careful examination of the photos I have here of B I Sunday none of which are high resolution and of the very helpful Admiralty chart.
I’ve considered a number of possible compositions based upon my previous sketches, the collection of photos acquired and a further examination of the records of what actually occurred. 
Given the complexity of the subject, a port with at least 8 ships (including a tug attending ‘Kenya’), I would have to make a minimum of 4 conventional sketches as if ‘plien aire’ which would be time consuming and even then probably not ‘spot on’ (as we say in Cornwall).
Developing the work in and results from earlier sketches my preferred solution has been to sketch the port from the chart as sketch 7.
Then add the ships approximately to scale and in their correct order then work out the perspectives and compositions from the angles thus revealed.
I drew the port from the chart twice.
As I became more familiar with the port layout the second copy was more focused on the essential details.
Sketch 7 as expected raises more detailed questions, more of that below.
Meanwhile my impression and this is also a question for you is I think it became clear one view point (4) above all others was the most suitable.
My preference for friendly ‘4’ is as follows.
The perspective avoids making the subject one long line which improves the format.
We could opt for a long narrow picture as I did for the two successful “Trafalgar Dawn” paintings (available as signed numbered ‘Heritage’ prints); however I feel the huge sky, and although it was not a very cloudy day, the towering clouds over the low landscape are a feature of Mombasa just as in East Anglia in Britain as painted by John Constable.
The fore ground is a blank sheet of water I propose to bring alive with local small craft which in turn will help emphasise the size for the B I ships.
 ‘4’ can be used to show the point, buildings, cars, trees etc at the beginning of the wharfs, point Raz Kilindira and a bonus, a glimpse of the extensive harbour beyond which will help suggest the size of the Mombasa roads, maybe with a distant view of the mainland ferry (I have the ferry including images on file thanks to Abdul Abubaker).
In my mind a significant advantage of ‘4’ is it places ‘Kenya‘ with a tug making her maiden arrival near dead center of the composition and a bonus, given the height and angle of the sun at that time of the morning (note the compass rose on the sketch) ‘Kenya‘s topside will be in shadow thus making that important ship more prominent.
Sketch 8
This study shows the design proposed by perspective ‘4’, sketch 7.
The drawing has been composed using for the first time a method I thought of when I might have been counting sheep.
Inspired indirectly by our friends at The Artcentre, Callington, Cornwall and by Winsor & Newton as far as I know no other artist uses this method.
The composition has been worked out in general directly on a 76 x 121 cms, 48″ x 30″ canvas coated with a thin plastic cellulous membrane.
The scale has shown the largest ship will measure approximately 22.8 cms, 9 1/2 “, the smallest B I ship, 5 cms, 2 1/2 “.
Next if this design is approved by my client will be to establish the precise sizes of the principal (B I) ships in relation to each other and the shore line features(at present the sizes are approximate) then produced a slightly more detailed pencil drawing which will answer a few outstanding questions I have on details, answer I hope with a little help from our friend Abdul Abubaker, in a large sketch book after which we will be ready to start the painting.
Meanwhile I have quite a clear ‘vision’ in my mind for lighting and colouring.
As it’s been a while since I last painted a B I ship (Dumra at Bombay’ painted for Sir Robin Knox-Johnston) I’ve rechecked out the livery of the B I ships circa 1951.
Context:
The story of Mombasa surprised me several times.
As it’s nice to share,  context helps understanding and in the process of researching this painting I found myself writing a summary of the story of Mombsa to ‘ertiz.
The parts most significant to this painting appear in bold type.

Kilindini port on Mombasa island has a long and colourful history.

The exact founding date of the city is unknown, but it has a long history. Kenyan school history books place the founding of Mombasa as 900 A.D.

The huge port of Mombasa’s history dates back more than 2,000 years. The Persians, Arabs, Egyptians, Jews, Hindus, Greeks, Romans, even the Chinese and many others visited the East African Coast to trade between East Africa, the Mediterranean Lands and to further horizons.

“Kilindini” is an old Swahili term that means “deep”.

The port is so called because the channel is naturally very deep.

The harbour is 25-30 fathoms (45–55 meters) at its deepest center.

The wharf area was dredged to 6 fathoms, 30′ = 9,14 m by the quay in 1945.

Kilindini Harbor is an example of a natural geographic phenomenon called a ria, formed at the end of the last glacial period when the sea level rose and engulfed a river that was flowing from the mainland.

Mombasa developed on a small coralline island separated from the mainland by a narrow channel situated close to the Kenya Coast. It is about 5 km in length north-south by 4 km east-west, covering an area of about 14.5 km2.

The island’s relatively sheltered position, with deep-water anchorages on its eastern and western sides, has rendered it an important and strategic trading centre on the Swahili Coast.

The founding of the port is generally attributed to Muslims who seized the land around 900 A.D. however there was undoubtedly trading from the beaches and a town long before Islam, certainly before Muslims began their attempts to over run and subjugate the region.

Mombasa became the major port city of pre-colonial Kenya in the Middle Ages developing trade with other African port cities, the Persian Empire, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Subcontinent and China.

Vasco de Gama was the first known European to visit Mombasa, receiving a chilly reception in 1498. Two years later, the town was sacked by the Portuguese, a people destined to become the next land lords of Mombasa.

Following on was further turbulent Muslim rule On the 25 May 1887, its administration was relinquished to the British East Africa Association.

The British took full control of Mombasa in 1895, where upon the British East African Protectorate was established with Mombasa the capital. The Sultan of Zanzibar formally presented the town to the British in 1898.

Port Kilindini became the sea terminal of the Uganda Railway which the British started building in 1896. Many workers were brought in from British India to help build the railway, and revive the city’s fortunes.

The colonization perpetuated in Mombasa promoted European culture in the town and adjoining Kenyan lands. The British completed a railway line in the early 1900’s from Mombasa to Uganda which is perhaps the major landmark in the history of Mombasa, trade began to boom. From 1887 to 1907, Mombasa remained the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate.

Inevitably British rule ended and Kenya received its independence on the 12th December 1963.

The railway from Mombasa to Kampala in Uganda opened up the hinterland proved a great success the development of coffee, tea, ivory and skins trade which expanded as the interior of East Africa was opened up by the new railway, Demand grew for a fully fledged seaport with a spacious deep water harbour. A new jetty was needed to handle larger ships bringing construction materials for the new railway.

As a result, a new port was created at Kilindini Harbour in 1896 with the building of a jetty at Kilindini on the west side of the island which was used mainly for transferring goods between seagoing vessels and the Kenya to Uganda railway. Later, three more jetties were built to handle the increasing rail borne import and export traffic.

In 1907 the first of two large wharves was built on the south side of Ras Kilindini. Together they had four berths points.

Development of the modern Port of Mombasa began in earnest in 1926 with the completion of two deep water berths supported by transit sheds at Kilindini Harbour. Three more berths also supported by sheds were completed in 1931 and the Shimanzi Oil Terminal entered service in the same year.

Two more berths were built in 1944 to cope with a sudden increase in shipping and traffic as a result of Britain’s evacuation of Singapore and general wartime naval requirements in the Indian Ocean. 

The Far East Combined Bureau at Mombasa, an outstation of the formally top secret now very famous British code-breaking operation at Bletchley House where the first real computer was built by the British during World War Two, The secret service was housed in a requisitioned school (Allidina Visram High School, Mombasa). It was successful in breaking Japanese naval Codes.

The berths were dredged in 1945 to a depth of 6 fathoms (30 ‘) and re dredged approximately every 5 years since then. Berth No 6 was omitted due to unfavourable foundation conditions. A second wharf was built in 1954 with eight head jetties. Two more deep water berths on the island added in 1955 and 1958

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