Jess Douglas

“My parents had a sailing boat which they took around the Mediterranean, so I grew up on and around the water. Still, I became a yacht artist completely by accident. I went to university in Plymouth and did an illustration degree, which was great, but after my three years there were up, I felt completely lost. I had been surrounded by loads of like-minded, arty people, but all of a sudden I was back to reality, living with my parents in the small, UK seaside town of Lyme Regis. 

I found that I wasn’t inspired to draw anything at all, so I ended up going out to Antibes and walking the docks. I got myself a job on a boat near Monaco and I loved it. I was well on my way to progressing but, one day, I got a phone call and it turned out that I had to fly back home to support my mum who was suffering a lot of mental health issues at the time. It cut the whole journey short and put an end to my ideas of maybe becoming a first mate or a tender driver. I came back and started working as a kitchen porter because there was nothing else around.

Back to the drawing board 

I hadn’t drawn anything since university – it was coming up to ten years – but then one of the local fishermen I knew got a new boat and I suddenly felt that I wanted to paint it. I asked him if he would mind and he agreed, but said he wanted to see how it looked at the end. When I showed it to him, he bought it from me! 

He suggested that I share it on a Facebook group called Fishing News, which I did, and within a couple of days, I had seven orders. Back then, I was painting onto recycled paper, but after about a year of commissions, a client in Canada asked if I could paint his boat onto a nautical chart. I thought it looked quite cool and when I shared the completed painting on socials, it really took off. People wanted to commemorate certain trips they’d done.

Taking the next steps 

After I had established myself painting fishing boats, someone asked why I wasn’t painting superyachts, so I contacted some friends who were still in the industry and offered to paint one for free so I could have it on my portfolio. That’s how I ended up painting St David as my first ever superyacht. The crew gave it to the captain for his birthday and it took off to the point that now most of my work is superyachts. I never thought it would be my full time job. April 2025 is the next slot at the moment – I have a year’s waiting list!

I’ve got one client in the US who’s just ordered his fifth painting from me – he’s got one of every boat he’s captained which I think is really cool. It makes me think I am helping people keep valuable memories through my work.

The artistic process 

I usually work from photos – I’ll ask for a few and then I’ll suggest which angle I think will work best with the nautical chart they’ve chosen. I start with a rough pencil sketch, then I use acrylic paint in marker pens. A lot of people are surprised that I don’t use paint brushes – but with pens, it flows a lot easier; the only downside is that you can’t mix colour. The main bulk of the yacht is done in that way and then the sea spray is done with white acrylic paint. A lot of people say that they can tell it’s my work from the sea which is nice. 

When I started out, it used to take about five days to complete one painting, but now I can do one in about three days. It depends how much detail there is. I do two sizes – either A2 or A1 which is better for the 95m plus boats. 

My favourite painting is probably the one that took the longest. It is a boat called Suri based over in Australia. It had so many toys and slides and jet skis and a helicopter and everything – but I liked the challenge and was so proud of it at the end. 

The next adventure 

Me and my husband bought a sailing boat last year and the plan is to live on it full-time, so I’ll become The Yacht Artist on a boat! We’ll start in Spain but we’re planning to go all over. We don’t have a set plan, we just know we don’t want to be in England! Ideally I’ll be painting in the cockpit, then having a little dip in the sea – that’s my dream anyway! The plan eventually is to do day charters – taking people out snorkelling and giving them some lunch – living that kind of life. 

I live better in the sun, I’ve realised. There are no aches, fewer worries – the sea is turquoise instead of brown and so you can jump in it! We’ve literally sold everything – we once had a flat filled with furniture and all the rest of it, and now we have a handful of clothes and a boat! We can go anywhere we like – it’s very liberating.”