Many paintings require quite a bit of research. One recent commission is to paint the schooner Westward racing close to where the client lives. On researching the subject I found that many races Westward participated in rounded the Warner buoy located close to the clients home. As soon as conditions were right I went out to the Warner buoy to get some reference material for the painting. This reference will be used for the setting. Now I’ll start reading through various race reports to find the ideal moment to depict.