Sailing to Yesterday

Maritime painter Richard Loud paints scenes from another era with uncanny ease and insight

Painter Richard Loud charts a course to yesterday each day. As he paints, he breathes life into the classic maritime designs of the late 19th century. In his free time, he literally navigates his timeless 1930s 41’ John Alden-designed Yawl Volya in Buzzards Bay, the same waters the most famous yachts in history raced, cruised and adventured. Both activities are halves of a whole that sustain each other. 

About his time on his boat, Loud says, “It’s a short season here in the Northeast, but even though it is a short season, you think about it all year, and it makes me happy to just think about it.” He explains how this time spent on the water influences his work on the canvas: “You have to be out there and be exposed to the whole thing—the water, the ocean, the waves, the sky, the horizon—it just refreshes you.” 

Loud doesn’t work from photos for the inspiration of his work. Instead, he says, he envisions the way it was when he was in his own boat and most amazingly, Loud also extends his imagination to how it might have been for those intrepid souls that enjoyed their days on the water, long before he was ever born.