One of the outstanding aspects of Geoff Hunt's paintings is that he is meticulous about historical accuracy... Here he describes how he is inspired by the immediacy of the accounts he finds in the the original log books.
When he researches the subject of a commissioned painting, he will often visit the Public Records Office in the National Archives at Kew and seek out the Master's or Captain's log relating to the historical moment. Geoff speaks of the amazing experience of holding the actual document in his hand, written contemporaneously in the present tense, sometimes during a long drawn-out naval action. You can learn more about the process of commissioning a painting by Geoff Hunt here. And some fine examples of his dramatic evocations of Naval history can be viewed in The Nelson Collection.