#361 'Crackington Haven' 11x14"

A large imposing cliff the locals call Sleeping Dragon. A great paintable subject...with low tide and the water on the sand reflecting the cliff and sky. People to give scale and interest plus the colourful life guard flags. The sky I'd taken time to put in the sweepy clouds and then some fluffy dark clouds came over the top so I took a risk and painted fluffies over the top, I'm pleased with how it turned out.
It was quite a big board but works well with the huge cliff.
I was lucky as I was just finishing up and then the rain fell...

Rain clouds approaching!

#360 'Widemouth Bay' 20x50cm

The North Cornwall surf was so much fun to paint! 
Looking the other way the beach was busy with people, life guards and surfers, it looked interesting but this way attracted me more because of the colours. - Looking into the sun creates strong tonal shapes and less colour, looking away from the sun i.e the light shining directly onto the subject makes the colours strong and less about tonal values.

Although I still worked on the tones I compare what is a similar tone within the subject:
sky and the sand are similar 
The distant sea and the rocks 
Wet sand & foreground sea - squint your eyes and have a go!

The sky was changing with lots going on in it. The foreground rocks helped with composition, the tide was high so only the tops of them stuck out it was good to have the water around them - low tide it's just a mass of rocks.

Spot the ring of sandcastles, they were making them as I was painting, I decided not to include in my painting.

This is one of the those paintings that did it itself. Hardly any wiping off and quite quick to get it all in.They dont all happen like that! 

#281 'Last Light, Seaford' 8x14"

This one I scraped off after nearly covering the board as I wasn't happy with it and liked the light better as the sun was setting - warm apricots.
It does seem to take a while to get to know a place, especially a new subject like white cliffs! 
Scrapping off gave a nice base to work over, which I did some on location but finished today in the studio. I realised I hadn't pitched the cliffs light enough so lifting them in tone meant I needed to lift everything else as well. I left some of the original painting showing through to give a more interesting finish.

Here is my palette of colours.

I took this pic after the sun had gone down.

#280 'Rock Study, Seaford' 8x10"

We had four days in East Sussex, a wonderful coastline with chalk cliffs and rocky outcrops. Having not painted white cliffs before they are a challenge! It's all about the tonal values, everything was tonally close together the sea sky and cliffs, not easy! Very paintable though I could keep painting this subject for a while.

I felt I needed to do a study honing in on the rocks to really observe them and not try and make a 'pretty painting' but just paint what's there!

Squinting my eyes I could see the sticky out rock was darker than the sky, so I put it in first then the sky around it, doing that I could judge the rock was too dark, so I adjusted it's tonal value. 
Because there was a lot of grey neutral colours I compared them to each other asking the question is this warmer or cooler e.g. The sky was cool and the rocks warmer.

When I was painting this Monet came to my mind as I could imagine him liking this scene.

Meanwhile the tide was coming in and the seas were getting bigger! I kept thinking I was going to get dumped on, each break of wave crashing - see pic:

A lady warned me and said if I stay in this spot I would get cut off by the tide. So that put a bit of injection into my painting to finish! I left my spot and about 10 waves later the whole area was engulfed in water, a close escape!

#264 'Low Tide Charmouth Beach' 15x40cm

Gorgeous day with the tide far out, the light was shining on the sand and I was in painting Heaven!
The family I put in a Mum, Dad and little toddler were lovely to paint, they moved slowly which helped!
I used a mixture of thin and thick paint. The reflections in the wet sand were thin and the light next to the sea thicker, I echoed this light on the horizon in the sky.
I made sure I got the tonal value and the shapes of the cliffs right - the iconic 'Golden Cap'.

It wasnt long before the sea was lapping at my ankles!

#262 'Wintery Skies, Charmouth Beach' 8x14"

This is a new board size and it works well for this sweaping sort of subject and when you want more sky in. 
A grey day apart from the sliver of light on the horizon, the sky was fun to paint. 
There's an estuary going through the beach which deposits water and makes the stones on the beach darker with algea which helps to break up the line of the sea to sand.

#259 'Golden Cap Looking West' 8x10"

I have just had a week in Dorset painting the local area of Bridport, Charmouth & Lyme Regis all on the Jurassic Coast.
I was lucky with the weather, it didn't rain once! and had some great sunsets and rises.
I have about 10 paintings to post from the trip and will do 2-3 a day.

On the first day I arrived to catch the sunset, and was really pleased to find this view at the end of the caravan park I was staying in - dramatic cliffs with great shapes. 
I started to paint late afternoon and had 3/4 of the painting down when the sunset lit the sky, it was beautiful. I tried putting in the colourful sky but it didn't fit the rest of the painting and I would have had to repaint the lot to match, I decided to keep it how it was. Sometimes you can't chase the light!

#251 'Beer Head' 8x10"

I looked around after I finished the previous boat painting I posted and saw the light on the water and sky and thought I've got to paint that! So I turned my easel around and started straight away. The light only lasted about 30 minutes so it was a scramble to get it down. 

I blocked in the main shape of the cliff first and then the water and sky. I had painted the same cliff the day before from a higher aspect but haven't posted it as Im not convinced the painting works! It's not easy because the cliff is white chalk but there was no light on it, it was behind therefore in silhouette. Underpainting in one colour and then picking up areas over the top seams to unify.  Also keeping the paint for the water thinner in some places and thicker where the light hits.

There were some figures, so small you can hardly see them, but there there :-)

The scene reminds me of something Monet would paint!

#137 'Sunrise, Staithes Beach' 9.5x12"

This is the last sunrise from Staithes, I have enjoyed painting at this quiet time of the day and capturing the beautiful colours which are so quick to disappear. 
I have been experimenting with thicker paint, and not doing an under painting to start, just doing it in one thick go. Which is working well unless I'm being indecisive or unsure about an area and then the paint gets too thick, so I scrape off and start again! I like the thick lucsious quality of the oils although it's harder to control when there is loads of it on the board.
The early light really influences the whole scene, so to harmonise the palette, every colour mix I add a dab of peach colour from the sky. 
I painted this Monday morning we drove to the Lake District straight after. Lake paintings to follow :-)

#135 'Sunrise, Staithes Harbour' 8x10"

Haven't posted in a few days as I was prepping for an eight day painting trip we are now on. My husband and I are away in North Yorkshire Staithes, a small fishing village I previously visited in the summer. It's a really inspiring place and everywhere you look is another painting opportunity.
We started this morning and I did this one at the top of the village looking down on the harbour. It was bitingly cold with the wind in my face and my fingers slowly seizing up with cold.

There were so many options for compositions I choose this view as it had all the elements I like! 
I put the sky in as it was changing colour fast. getting the tone light enough and a good intensity of colour, the sea came next as it mirrored a lot of the colour in the sky, with sweeping strokes for the breaking waves. Putting the cliffs in was a bit of a shock with the tonal contrast but with it helps make the sky look pastely and soft, I kept the cliffs fairly translucent and dark. Then to tackle the roof tops! I focused on the sky line as that was the interesting bit with getting the angles of the roofs and chimney pots, also changing the tone and colours of the red slate. The miniature boats were just a suggestion with hardly any detail.
It took 2.5 hours, a long time whens it's cold, but I felt happy for being there and the painting at the end.
I did another one in the afternoon but it needs more work so will go back tomorrow and finish it.

#132 'Charmouth Beach, Dorset' 6x15.5"

Charmouth is just a couple of miles from Lyme Regis, the cliff in the middle distance is called Golden Cap and is the highest point on the South Coast, it's completely flat on the top.
I watched an inspiring plein air painting DVD by Richard Pikesley and he was painting on this very same spot! 
Love this sort of coastline and could paint here every day. Just the changing weathers, light and tides :-)
P.s. My painting is photographed on the easel because a narrow panoramic format doesn't work so well on the blog - it's too small.

#115 'Sunrise Vik, Iceland' 8x8"

I was back in front of the church looking down on the rocks at 5am for sunrise, which happened a lot faster than sunset the night before. I didn't have time to paint the rocks in first. Instead I quickly mapped in the shapes and got to work on the sky. The colours were so fleeting but it helped having painted this subject numerous times before I had 'learnt' it in my mind, so I was able to paint it quickly.
This was on Friday and my last painting in Vik. I was sad to say goodbye as it had been such an inspiring place. We then drove all day to our next stop along the coast to quite a different landscape...

#114 'Sunset Vik, Iceland' 8x8"

I stood in front of the church at 8pm, it was my last painting of the day. Being higher up it allowed me to see more of the sea which reflected the evening colours.
I put the rocks in first which gave me some structure to work around. - Dark and silhouetted. It felt a lottery to when I should paint the sky as I wanted the sunset to be at its peak.
A German lady asked while I was painting how do you paint this when it's changing to fast? And it was every time I mixed a colour and looked up the colours had changed or the clouds had moved! So once I started on the sky I committed to my mind what I saw the colours and shapes and then I painted like billio! I also took a photo in case I needed it later.
It was a challenge to get the colours light in tone but with enough colour and not to chalky. I'm pleased with how it turned out, with no time for overworking and it inspired me to do another one here  the next morning :-)

#113 'Vik Church, Iceland' 7x9.5"

 

I was standing a little way up a mountain to be eye level with this church. I thought it had an alpine feel and is actually very typical of Icelandic churches.

I simplified the scene and focused on the bits I liked - the contrast between the white building and the dark rocks. I used thicker paint then previous seascapes to emphasis the lush greens. The plain below the hill was so wide and expansive to the sea I had to reduce it a little for the composition and the board!

The distant cliff and land I made sure looked far away with very pale muted colours, not much darker in tone than the sky, to give a sense of space.

The sounds around me travelled and high up on the mountain were Oyster Catchers swooping and calling, they sounded like they were just above my head.

#112 'Dyrholaey, Iceland' 20x30cm

 

Thursday I completed 3 oil paintings in one day! That's my record so far:-) I will post them all today....
I decided to make the very long trek on the rock stacks beach to the other end to get a different view, see pic below.
It was early around 8am when I started painting. Just as I was about to begin a rainbow appeared nearly over my head. I could see the rain coming and battened down the hatches until it passed. - Had to show you this as it looks like the rainbow's coming out of my pochade!

My light coloured board was attracting midges and once the paint was on their they were all sticking to it, not easy to paint around! 
Iceland has huge spaces, its a big country and this view was still a long way away, although it showed off the sky well, and after the rain the clouds were interesting and I enjoyed painting them. My board was a different type again and you can see the weave of texture it has created. The light house gives this one scale, so tiny!

Husband Nick took this of me doing the long walk down the deserted beach!

#109 'Reynisdrangar Vik, Iceland' 7x9.5"

 

I completed this second painting in the afternoon. The light changed half way through with the sun coming out which enriched the colours and contrast.
I walked down the beach it was hard going in the soft back sand and my gear. I liked the stacks smaller and at a different angle so I could see three instead of two of them - in the first painting.
I wanted to try and convey the energy of the sea, it was massive and so loud, with continuous spray in my face. I used lots of loose brush marks in the sky and sea. And putting some tiny figures in gave a sense of scale.

#108 'Reynisdranger Sea Stacks', Iceland' 20x30cm

I did two paintings yesterday, this was the first on such a dramatic beach at Vik, with black sands and sea stacks jutting out of the water, the seas were huge with crashing waves. Such an inspiring place to paint :-)
Vik is on the south coast of Iceland exposed to the Atlantic weather although we were lucky it didn't rain and the sun actually came out!
I was fairly close to the stacks (rocks) along with many tourists interested in the Puffins and me, lol!
I wanted a contrast of thin translucent paint and thicker opaque and being careful not to cover all the thin first layer. With the black sands the colours all harmonised and so I used a limited palette which added to the drama.
If Monet were alive and here I'm sure he'd love to paint in Vik as I do! His Etretat paintings remind of this area in Iceland.

#88 'Staithes Beach' 7x9.5"

Second painting in Staithes on the Plein Air workshop. Love the little red boat so much so I painted it another 2 times after this!
Blocking in the dark tones first gives a good backdrop for the sunlit boat house. Also careful to observe the sand colours - not just yellow :-)

The photo below shows I have cropped in to paint the areas I am drawn to.