#484 Lifeboat Station, Mersea Island

This was the first painting I did with Graham in Essex, I choose a low horizon line to emphasis the dramatic windy sky. I drew and re drew the Coastguard building in different areas on the board and also different sizes. It was the first time there and it takes a while to settle into a place. It was worth redrawing as the composition is so important and at the early stage its easy to change!

I use a Pro Arte Stirling round brush to draw the initial composition and the colour I choose to draw in is connected to the painting colours. For this one its a deep browny red colour, similar to the lifeboat building. So if any drawing bits show through they link in with the final painting.

#477 'Boats at Dell Quay' & Teaching

I taught 4 very friendly plein air painters last week. Typical that it was the hottest day of the year almost ever in our part of the world - over 38 degrees and humid. Tough conditions to paint and for me to teach. 

Crammed together in a small area of shade!

The morning session I helped them all get settled and gave them as much information as they could take, so I didn't really get a chance to paint myself. The afternoon was calmer after a big lunch of fish and chips and a pint of Guinness for Mick! I had time to do a little boat painting, using short flat 'Ultimate Bristle ' Rosemary and co brushes - my favs at the mo. and making each brush stroke count.

I think one of the main things people struggle with is tonal variations in colour. Pre mixing colours & tones (light and dark versions) before starting to paint, my students said it really helped. I do it for nearly all my paintings and helps me feel on top of it, use more paint to paint with, it colour harmonises as I mix my pre mixed colours together.

If you get a chance to comment on here I would appreciate knowing what you find hard in painting - especially plein air, to help me with future teaching and what to write on this blog!

Tide in spot my little boat!

#471 'Mortson Quay' 11x14"

I timed the paint to be in-between tides, but the water rushed in so quickly I painted the edges of the banks first so I had a pleasing shape before it disappeared. (see picture below for how the water looked when I finished)
Contra jour light, around 8am. I used a pre-stained board with Burnt Sienna, very light in tone but gives a warm base to work on. Especially the lights show up straight way - on a white board much harder.
I didn't put all the boats in as the size board couldn't take it, editing out to make the composition work.
Just my sort of subject!

Standing on a rickety jetty trying not to drop anything between the gaps!

#470 'Sunday Sailing, Morston'

Quite tricky to find a composition that worked with lots of comings and goings of boats and people because it was a sunny Sunday morning. 
I was there with the ROI (Royal Institute of Oil painters) and the IEA (institute of East Anglian painters.) A painting day with lots of amazing artist, really inspiring to see how they worked and paint with them.

I liked this National Trust hut silhouetted with the contra jour sun. Everything was high key and bight. Lots of interesting activity as well, the boat sail was a bonus! 

I kept it loose and sketchy wanting it to feel fresh and lively, to suit the day.
I felt honoured that David Curtis wanted to paint the same subject as me so he ducked in behind and this started a line of other painters joining in with this subject! ....

 The tide quickly drained out of this area, plus the blue foreground boat was taken away!

#469 'Wells Next to Sea, Norfolk' 11x14"

There are many ups and downs of being an artist and I was feeling a bit self doubting. 
We had arrived in North Norfolk the previous night and I was keen to explore this area which I've not visited before. It was raining and grey I could see there was lots of subject fodder but my mind was getting in the way. I did a painting in the morning which I haven't finished yet but then had an amazing opportunity to paint with David Curtis, he has been plein air painting for over 50 years!! 

We painted side by side for 2 1/2 hours and he was such a tonic and I felt a lot better by the end of it! You could say I got my mojo back and felt so inspired by the subject. 
It's good to paint with others who are more experienced. I wouldn't have chosen this subject on my own as it was extremely complex. But seeing him tackle it gave me the confidence to try and I'm really pleased with the result.

A grey day can put me off painting but this painting shows there can be a subject out there!

#467 Morning Light, Langstone

7am in the summer time and the sun is already quite high but there is some warm interesting light. 

Driving down to the coast I thought I'd check out Langstone first before I went further along the coast towards Bosham. But this scene grabbed me and I could envisage it on the upright format. I knew I didn't have long before the sun would be out of my picture and the tide was rapidly emptying! 

I started blocking in the main elements that are going to change. I put the horizon in first just above a 3rd up and then the boats. The clouds made a lovely pattern around the sun which I sketched in. Also the shape of the mud flats I like the little opening of water which leads the eye in. 

I spent an hour and 20 minutes painting on location but by then the tide was gone and the sun had moved it was a different painting. So I stopped and completed that afternoon in my studio while it was still fresh.

11x22"

#460 Langstone Harbour Reflections 11x14"

A familiar area to me (because I used to live around here and Ive painted here many times), looking slightly more east than usual though, I liked the contour of the South Downs on the horizon.
Plein air is not easy! When I arrived it the clouds fluffy and reflected in perfectly still waters. By the time I had set up and started to map out the wind had got up and not reflections to be seen! The clouds were moving so quickly as well, it was catching a moment in time. I waited till near the end when the waters calmed again - although the tide was pretty low but still able to put the reflections in. Even with this trickiness I enjoyed it very much!

Reflections painted at the end - low tide

#407 'Emsworth Moorings' 10x12"

I tried painting this boat about 2 years ago when I first started plein air. I drew it out onsite but didn't really know how to tackle it so it was left unfinished. A tricky boat subject!

This time a bigger board and lucky with the refections. Although I had very little time to get them in as the wind picked up as the tide rolled in. So I finished in the studio which is sometimes helpful when a subject is harder there is more time and less panic that the subject is changing!

The side of the boat (hull) in shadow getting the tonal value not too dark and still warm as well, The top of the boat was quite blue - in shadow but also reflecting the sky. I'm pleased with how it turned out. 

#353 'Preparing to Sail, Bosham' 9x12"

In this gorgeous weather Bosham has Mediterranean rich colours and sweltering heat! Painted on Sunday when the families were turning up to sail. 

A lovely commission open to what I wanted to paint in Bosham. I turned up and really liked the blues and sweeping path in leading the eye nicely to the yachts and building - which I can't remember the name of?

It got better when the people arrived and the sails started going up. So much potential for paintings this area.

Nearing the end of the painting and my view was now almost fully obscured! 

#330 'Sunrise, Bosham Hoe' 30x40cm

A quick sunrise painting of Bosham on a largish canvas. Getting the essence of the scene, brush marks still visible, did this in a hour. It was a beautiful morning, so still and glass like refections.
Tricky to paint as there was an ethereal quality to it, sort of thing I'd like to have another go at straight away!

Here are the beginnings, just blocking in shapes for the buildings, and then picking out lights and darks and roof line.
Painting the sky at the same time as the water, to get the mirror reflection effect.

#328 'Bosham Quay' 9x12"

I haven't painted in while because my lovely Mum in Law died last week, it wasn't expected and very sad.

I am now back to work and this weather has been glorious for plein air allbeit a little hot!
I timed it just right for this contra jour - sparkle on water - tonal painting.

The tide went lower and the reflections on the posts disappeared before I could put them in. Luckily I was there long enough for the tide to come back up and I could paint them!

Also the light moved really quickly off the water and wet mud, it was very light in tone just warmed a little with Naples Yellow.

Because the yacht is silhouetted in the strong morning sun it is quite dark in tone even though it's a white hulled boat! 

The people in the boat moved around a lot but stayed sitting for enough time to capture them. I didn't want them too pronounced so they come out of the shadows.
The jaunty lean to the boat helps with the composition.

A local chap asked to see my painting when it was 3/4 finished, he said he really liked it and ended up buying it almost off the easel - I wanted to finish it first and let it dry a little :-) 
A great start back to painting...

#267 'Early Morning, Emsworth Harbour' 15x40cm

Driving down to the coast it was a grey blanket of cloud so I was pleased to find this beautiful sky when I arrived and I liked the little glimpses of light on the water.

Painting a sky one of the things I think about is edges. Making some of them soft and others hard. I do this by wet into wet paint, or wiping with my hand or rag to soften an edge. The hard edges I paint and leave. Also keeping the tonal range close together and changing the colours warm to cool. The sky when its a feature like this I put in first - also it changed quickly as ever!
I had to be careful that I didn't make the boats to poppy in tone or colour as they were contra jour and not very lit. But I wanted them to have some differentiation between the mud and boats to see them!
The sky line is roughly mapped in as I didn't want to draw attention to it - its not important. The sweep around of water there is a big contrast of tones between the water and the mud so the eye is drawn to this bit which it good (& intentional!)
Here is my palette and on location pic:

#255 'Morning Light, Emsworth Harbour' 5x10"

I did this one straight after the previous painting posted. Just moved around the harbour a bit.    I am a sucker for sparkle on the water! 
The boats were really silhuetted and strong shapes. I moved my body so the compostion of them worked - and then I didn't have to move them on my painting. I did edit a few out as it was too complex for the size board.
Again painted quickly as after 40 minutes the sparkle was gone. Limited tones 4 main ones. The colours mainly yellow and blue - Ultramarine & Naples Yellow.
Looking for little highlights on the boats as well especially the tops where the sun hits them.

When I get back to my studio I always get the paintings out and line them up on my shelf to decide if they work or not. I'm pleased with these two as a pair - it's not often they work together.

#254 'Fishing Boat, Emsworth Harbour' 8x10"

A quick painting of a still morning. Passers by were commenting on what a lovely morning to be painting, yes, so lucky I said. 
Not easy though, as this scene shanged within 30 minutes of starting it. I posted the photo (see below) on Instagram to show how different it looked - the wind had picked up so no reflections and the the boat had turned 180 degrees, oh my!
Kept the colour palette limited as it was contra jour the colours are mire subdued and silhutted. I ratio of tonal values: most of it is light eg the sea and sky being the same and a small area of very dark tonal value which makes the composition interesting.
Little highlights of almost white dotted around for the sun sparkles.

#232 'View to Bosham' 15x40cm

I was itching to get out yesterday and was a lovely afternoon, I went to Chidham (West Sussex) and walked to the coast with a view across the water to Bosham. 
There was some gorgeous fluffy clouds when I arrived, I whipped out a board and drew with a brush the general form and movement of the clouds. They were scudding so quickly off to the left and no more were coming. 
The tide was high and my tripod was sitting in the sea water. I set the tone of the painting with the sky first making sure it was light enough. And then put the greenery and buidling strip with general shapes and looking for the light and shadows. 
When things happened in the water like a yacht going by or activiy on the shore I put that in too. Then the sea around the boats and adding light boats on the top of the sea colour. The light greens in the foreground weren't there when I started but I thought it would add to the composition.
This is where I got up to outside....

I aim to finish or complete as much as possible on the spot outside, but sometimes circumstances lead to finishing inside, this time it was because I wanted the reference of the sky to finish it. I have talked to other plein air artists about this and so many are the same as me, plan to finish outside in one go and it doesnt always happen! (So I'm not going  to beat myself up about it!)

We have our shared disabled dog Matte staying at the moment (he's blind & deaf.) He can't be left so I have worked in the studio this week on a painting but not a 100% So here it is warts and all!

I painted it on a different surface board - rougher like sandpaper and the paint sunk more and looks flatter. Board surfaces make such a difference to the finished quality of a painting. I wont use that Gesso again!

#226 'Boats, Bosham Harbour' 8x10"

Last week I went to Bosham early morning and as I finished 'Bosham Harbour' #223 I turned 90 degrees and saw this scene, so I whipped out another board and got the composition down (before the boats moved) but ran out of steam to paint on site so I painted it today in my studio. 
The colours and reflections were so strong I painted it with thicker oils loading my brush and using less medium to thin it, which lent itself to the subject and fun to do!

#223 'Bosham Harbour' 9x12"

I planned to go down to Bosham on advice from an artist saying it was gorgeous early morning. Somehow I picked the most stunning day, so happy. 
Got there just after sunrise and the cloud formation and reflections in the water....

I painted the clouds quickly, they were fun to do. Using Pale Naples Yellow ( I prefer the standard N. Yellow as you can always lighten it) I used it for warmth in the clouds then added it to Cerulean blue for the water.
The boats were swinging about on the tide quite a bit. The posts were a challenge put them in or not? I'm happy with the yellow and black one and good to have an upright in there as it's quite a horizontal composition. The two in the corner also help balance the composition without them there would be a big gap!

It's already been framed and into the Haslemere Art Society Exhibition...more on that in next post.

#214 Setting Sail, Dell Quay 9x11"

What a great place to paint! So many options it was hard to choose until I saw this scene, when I couldn't take my eyes from it. It was a great sky day too, I wanted to do some cloud studies but this scene won! 

It was Sunday morning, and the sailing club was a hive of activity, lots of families and all different sail boats were casting off from this area. I pin pointed one boat I liked the shape of especially against the dark brick background. see pic no.3.

I painted at the end of a pontoon, a little hazadous because of the boarded gaps which my equipment could easily fall through.

This is my set up and the beginning stages.

I had to quickly get the yacht in before if moved, they had 5-10 mins of sorting themselves out before they set sail. 

Loved painting this, a great day, and a great subject!

I'm off to Spain with husband tomorrow for 9 days, and hope to paint and post on the blog out there...