#265 'Sunrise from Lyme Regis' 8x14"

I wasn't sure about posting this one as the easel fell over (it was on a slanted harbour wall - The Cobb) and the painting came off the easel and all the solvent spilt onto the painting! This is a photo of it before it was ruined, but thought I'd post it to tell the story! 
NB don't wipe turps off a painting as you wipe the painting off too!

I did this study that evening sunset, I tired out my new lights they work really well for nocturnal/sunsets. You can buy them from Amazon as orchestral or reading lights they come under.

#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!

#263 'Harbour Entrance, Lyme Regis' 5x10"

Painting this on a 5x10" boards helps me be more free as its small and feels like a study so isn't prescious and I can attack it! 

It helped I was quite far away from the subject so its easier to translate onto a small board - see below. 

I started with thin dark paint on the harbour wall and then put the light in on the water next to it, as it could change quickly. 
It was the only bit of water in the harbour as the tide was out, it looked like the plug had been pulled as it's a mass of mud, bouys and boats!

#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.

#261 'Sky & Sea Study, Dorset' 8x10"

It was a grey day but the sun came out for 30 minutes or so and I grabbed it! 

When a subject is changing so quickly I paint it in the order it's going change the most. 

1. Clouds - the shape & colour 

2. Light on the water the lightest part and the area surrounding it

3. The sun & area around it

4. Horizon line of the sky how it compares to the sea - how the yellow in the sky compares to the sunlight on the water.

5. Sea - the darker waves int eh foreground

6. Block in the rest of the sea and sky

Painting like this is fast and focused not stopping in one area long observing and getting it down as a moment in time.

#260 'Charmouth Beach' 8x10"

A grey morning so I put the emphasis onto the beach by making the horizon line on the top third of the board and using the seaweed lines and pebbles to help lead the eye in.
I painted this subject 4 times during last week, so helpful to learn the subject shapes to then focus on other aspects like the tonal values or colours.
I put the little people in to give some scale of the huge beach - no colour needed just dark silhouettes. 
The flat top cliff is called Golden Cap and is the highest point on the south coast of England being 191 meters. The top of the cliff is sandstone hence the name.

#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!

#175 'View Towards Abbotsbury' 18x24cm

This is the second painting I did with artist Richard Pikesley.

We struggled to find something decent in the murk of drizzle and low cloud. The view we eventually settled on you could easily have driven past as it wasn't spectacular but it had some great light in the skyline and the atmospheric perspective was strong. 

I was stuck behind a bush of yellow flowers (not sure of the name) the board shape seamed to fit having the flowers in the foreground of the painting. I didn't want to descibe them with too much detail but I emphasised the flowers with strong colour and shapes which also added to the ariel perspective.

No drawing out before hand straight in with paint! Feeling your away around the composition this method allows for more flexibility as the painting develops. It also encourages to paint in slabs of colour and not 'filling in' to linear lines. I didn't find it easy though and half way through I was really doubting it all! Richard encouraged me to go on and I'm pleased with the result, it's not how I'd usually paint a landscape but it's fresh and painterly and feels like I'm on the right track :-)

An amazing day with Richard and I'm sure its going to have a great impact on my paintings to come......

#174 'West Bay Harbour' 18x24cm

I feel very privileged to have had a painting day with an English artist Richard Pikesley he is a wonderful painter and the president of the New English Art Club.

I felt like I needed some input and direction on how to progress my paintings to another level. I took a selection of paintings to show Richard and he gave me some great advice and guidance. We then painted in two locations morning and afternoon. The first I will post now the second tomorrow.....

West Bay Harbour 
What Richard told me to work on was less linear and more blocks of colour. To help me do this I didn't draw the subject first I went straight into looking and comparing two colours next to each other - I started on the reflection on the front of the boat. Trying to match the colour and tone. Also aiming to get the board covered quickly so you can relate the colours in the subject and not be distracted by the colour/tone of the board.

It definitely felt out of my comfort! Although I am pleased with the result and Richard liked it too! (The little boat was called 'Henry' and I love the character it has!)

The conditions weren't easy, it was chucking with rain when we started so sheltered under his Land Rover boot and at times the subject disappeared in the haze of rain! Thankfully it did stop but you can see it's a quiet tonal painting - not big contrasts like when the sun is out, which still has a beauty to it.

'Painting is about looking' a quote from Richard and something I am really working on :-)