Painting the Morning Light at Yaringa Boat Harbour

Some places quietly become part of your life.

Over the years I’ve spent many hours around Yaringa Boat Harbour on the Mornington Peninsula. My partner and I often head there to go fishing, and with each visit I’ve come to know the rhythm of the harbour. The boats resting in the water, the changing light across the masts, and the peaceful feeling that settles over the marina in the early hours of the day.

It’s the kind of place that slowly stays with you.

On this particular morning the light was soft and gentle, reflecting across the water and catching the shapes of the boats. There was a calmness to the scene that immediately made me want to paint it. Moments like this don’t last long, and I love the challenge of capturing them while they’re still fresh in my memory.

For this artwork I worked in soft pastels, a medium I’ve recently returned to and am really enjoying again. Pastels allow me to work quickly and respond to light and colour in the moment. Unlike oil paint, where drying times slow the process, pastels let me build the image straight away layering colour, adjusting tones, and responding instinctively to the scene.

What I enjoy most about painting places like this is the sense of memory and familiarity. When you know a place well, it becomes more than just a landscape. The boats, the water, the quiet atmosphere, they all hold small personal memories.

That sense of place often finds its way into my work.

Many of my paintings are inspired by locations I return to again and again. Over time they become part of my story, and painting them feels like preserving those moments, the light, the stillness, and the feeling of being there.

This harbour scene is one of those moments captured in colour and texture.

If you’d like to see the finished artwork, you can view it on my website soon. I share new paintings, stories behind the work, and the places that continue to inspire my art practice.

Keywords: Yaringa Boat Harbour painting, Mornington Peninsula artist, Australian harbour art, soft pastel boat painting.