Picture perfect

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- Scott Kennedy is at home around boats.

His shop on Shipyard Way is a bright little enclave of art on a street

that is otherwise home to a shipyard, Olympic Boat Centers and Pedigree

Marine.

For the people who come to buy Kennedy’s paintings, the location is

probably off the beaten path; but for Kennedy, it’s the perfect place to

be.

All his life, he said on a recent morning, he’s been fascinated by the

way boats work and the way the marine environment has shaped their

design. Having a studio next to a shipyard is an extension of that

fascination, an attempt to stay close to what matters to him.

“What attracts me is the aesthetics,” of the vessels, the 49-year-old

artist said. “Over the ages, it’s been refined. Form has followed

function.”

In Kennedy’s paintings and sketches, this attention to the physical

details of boats is evident. Aspects of boats’ rigging are delineated

with clarity, even if the sea and sky are often rendered in an

impressionistic style. Minor mechanical details are treated with

enthusiasm rather than haste.

But the emotional meaning of boats is also something that Kennedy

values. He has been involved for years in sail training -- using sailing

trips to build character in young people.

The value of these trips is the kind of community they create among

the people who experience them.

“The ships, to me, provide that,” he said, by giving their young

sailors responsibility, focus and a new experience.

Lately Kennedy has been working on a pen-and-ink project to document

the creation of two tall ships that will be used for sail training. The

boats -- a pair of 90-foot brigantines -- are the work of the Los Angeles

Maritime Institute in San Pedro. Kennedy has created an extended series

of pictures illustrating the handcrafting that is going into their

creation.

“He’s the best of his field, in my own set of prejudices, in his

ability to capture what’s really going on,” said Jim Gladson, president

of the institute.

“So many artists, especially artists dealing with things

marine-related, are so unfamiliar with the processes going on that they

have difficulty with depicting it in a way that resonates with the people

who do it,” Gladson added.

That’s not the problem for Kennedy. The only criticism Gladson can

find of his work is that he sometimes gets so absorbed in it that he

neglects the business end of things.

“We try to play fair with him and make him take a little bit of profit

now and then,” Gladson said.