#430 'Sunset Over The River Hamble' & Perseverance

Thank you so much to those who have emailed me and commented re my previous post. It's really good to have feedback as it has been hard to gauge what you think of my blog! 

It seems like the consensus is to carry on with the format I have been doing - paintings and a bit of writing but to also include some informative posts along side the usual painting posts. I am happy to keep going with it :-)

River Hamble
I had made a solid plan for where I would paint - Seascape of Bosham, I'd checked and rechecked the weather forecast, sun and cloud - perfect. Not too much wind and tide was the right level. Picked the boards/canvases that I thought would suit that subject. Left at 1.30pm ready to do two paintings a later afternoon and a sunset.

Work in progress, beautiful sunset!

It was heavy cloud all the way down to the coast. Left which is the Bosham area a thick blanket no sun, right had sun on the horizon, I made the quick decision of turning right, I drove into Portsmouth but decided there wasn't enough sun, so I came back out and went towards Southampton. I knew there was a river a long there having walked some of it with my Mum 10+ years ago.
A friendly security guard at a Marina said walk that way for some good views. I wasn't decked out to be walking and had to dump some of my boards (getting rid of weight) in the car. I walked on a path next to the river it wasn't a great view and I didn't know if it would get any better but decided to persevere as I'd come this far. I went about a mile when the river bent into the direction of the low sun, the clouds had broken up into a wonderful formation and there was the view! So relieved and happy to find something inspiring to paint. 
Although the time was ticking on, I'd mapped out a composition and quickly mixed some paint colour ready, but by then the scene had change too much so I started another this time just painting the sky, after it had changed again I painted the sea and foreground. I finished it in the studio.

Perseverance pays!
When I first drove down to the coast looking at the sky, grey and more grey with a tiny amount of light. But to carry on with the uncertainty of finding a decent subject and to end up painting a new place was definitely worth the angst! It doesn't always end in a positive! Plein air is such a challenge in so many ways and this was just one of them!
Clare