Purbeck Eddies

Purbeck Eddies, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

I started this in the last few days of Open Studios, working from a 2014 photograph taken off the beach at Winspit in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset. I finished it today, having taken a few days off.

Kimmeridge

Kimmeridge Bay in Purbeck, Dorset is all about the rocks. It lies on the Jurrassic Coast and is a favoured destination for fossil-hunters as well as rock-pool afficianados and snorkellers. It has clear, calm water and a folly on the headland - Clavell Tower, which in 2006-8 was moved away from the crumbling cliff. 

So, of course, my painting is all about the rocks. The flat rocks in the centre dominate the image. I spent most of my time on their colours, curves and cracks, their attendant pools and the wet reflections of the summer sun, but it was the seaweed that worried me most. It was a curious colour - a bright mix of yellow, green, red and orange - and it was underwater, right in the foreground. How could I indicate that with my knife, a blunt painting instrument if ever there was one? In the end, it was all a matter of observation and approximation, as is often the case, and allowing the viewer's visual cortex to fill in the gaps.

Kimmeridge 

Oil on linen canvas, 50 x 70 cm

£400

Blake's Lock - a teaser...

These are details from nine pieces that I have been working on for Artikinesis' Blake's Lock exhibition (17 September to 2 October). I've been considering the surface of the water and thinking about the Victorian turbines...

Snowdrops Across the River

This year, it seems that my plein-air season (that is, the time of year that I can comfortably paint outdoors) has started early - usually, I try mark it with a bluebell painting. But this year has been good for snowdrops, and these were within such a short walk from my studio that I could carry the finished wet oil painting back without a box.

Oil on Canvas,  30 x 30cm

Tintagel Cove

I had a brief opportunity to visit Tintagel this August. It was packed full of people. I gave the castle (nice though it is) a miss and went down to the cove, where I made a sketch and took lots of photographs.

In Poole Harbour

Poole has a very large harbour, within which nestles the spiritual home of Scouting. Brownsea Island - along with a number of smaller islands - not to mention the marinas, ferry ports and cargo depots that make up the functional port.

View from Rock - Commission - SOLD

Rock is a village in North Cornwall, just across the Camel estuary from Padstow.  I was asked to paint a view across the estuary, so we detoured that way at Easter and were fortunate enough to find Rock basking in wonderful sunshine.

Wollaton Gulls

Wollaton Park in Nottingham has a lake. The lake was well lit and well stocked with seagulls the last time I was there, in November. It made a pleasing image, almost an abstract one.

Can you spot the duck?

Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cm
19 January 2013

Breakers at Portreath 7 x 5

A usin' up the paint sort of painting. This is the leftovers from Gull Rock (with some extra white).

Oil on canvas, 7 x 5 "
For Sale 

Gull Rock - SOLD

Gull Rock is off the beach at Portreath, Cornwall. This painting is based on photographs that I took there on Sunday, when the weather was mostly dry and the sea (the Atlantic) was entirely rough. Every now and then, there was a hint of sunlight - not enough to brighten the sky, but enough to brighten the colours of the land and sea a little.

Oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm
SOLD

Porthleven from the Beach

I wasn't expecting to get the opportunity to paint yesterday, but I did. So I did.

This is based on a selection of photographs taken at Easter in 2010, when it was gloriously warm and sunny. They weren't intended to be a panoramic view (they just happened to join up), and I did remove a number of people, including, um, some in  the foreground. I didn't include quite all of the seaweed, either.

The church on the seafront is, I think, quite distinctive; it certainly says "Porthleven" to me.

Oil on canvas, 55 x 33 cm
25 December 2012
SOLD

Perranuthnoe Beach, 7 x 5"

A rather small, sketchy painting made with the left-over paint from Waves Breaking... (and making use of one of the leftover source photographs). Again, it's represented by a photograph taken under artificial light.

Oil on canvas panel, 7 x 5"
20 December 2012
For Sale

Waves Breaking on Perranuthnoe Beach, Cornwall

First of all, forgive the photograph; it was taken under artificial light. I still haven't seen this painting in daylight.

I painted this on a linen canvas that had been prepared with a transparent gesso. You can see the natural colour of the linen. It seemed a shame not to do something with this fact, so I deliberately skimmed the paint so that there were areas where the canvas is still visible. At the bottom of the painting, the canvas' brown surface is the sand; at the top, it is a reminder of the painting as object.

I used a different palette for this, too; two earth colours (Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna), two blues (Ultramarine and Phthalo Blue), and Titanium White.

Based on a photograph from April 2012. Painted yesterday (20 December 2012).

Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm
For Sale

Godrevy Summer 2009 - SOLD

A Godrevyscape with sunshine! Unlike the other Godrevy paintings, this isn't based on a photograph from New Year's Day. It was sunny when I took the photographs (on 35mm film) that this painting was based on - and getting towards the end of the day, as is evident from the pink tinge to the clouds. It must have been quite warm, still, because the people on the rocks are wearing swimming costumes. 

Oil on canvas, 20 x 16"
15 December 2012

SOLD

Godrevy 5

Photograph under artificial light

Photograph in late afternoon light

A bit more of Gwithian beach, a bit more of Godrevy Point - and the lighthouse can still be seen beyond the point. This is another painting based on my photographs from New Year's day 2012; you may be glad to hear that I've located some other photographs (from the summer of 2009) that may form the basis of my next Godrevyscape.

Dipsacus

Dipsacus is the genus name of the plants also known as teasels, teazles or teazels. Here, they are growing in a large puddle or small pool on Greenham Common, upon which the wind has created some nice ripples on the surface. Another small, quick painting.

Oil on canvas, 7 x 5"
For Sale 

Godrevy 4

I went back to my photographs again for this commissioned fourth version of the popular seascape off Gwithian beach, with a view of Godrevy lighthouse.

Oil on canvas, 41 x 33 cm
SOLD (with a frame on order from Moonshine)
07/12/12

Dinghies @ Gillan - SOLD

Location: Gillan Creek, Helford River, Cornwall

I like the idea of boats better than the reality of (being in) them. The photograph that this painting was based on was taken on the same day that I painted "From the Herra" en plein air in oils. The painting was made on Friday; it was the first time for a while that I have tried to make a whole knife painting in acrylics (rather than adding foreground detail to a brushed background) - although I did sign it with a brush.

I was expecting to be able to make cleaner contrasts more easily - which is one of the reasons that I chose this image - and it was, indeed, so. I think it worked fairly well. My next experiment with knives and acrylics will be to attempt a subject more similar to the ones that I favour in oils.

Acrylic on canvas, 41 x 33 cm
30 November 2012
SOLD

Godrevy 7x5 - SOLD

I went back to my photographs for this, a small, quick, using-up-the paint rendition of New Year's day 2012 at Gwithian (with a view of Godrevy lighthouse).

From the Herra

This is a view from the beach on a small promontory of land called "The Herra", looking out to the mouth of the Helford (and so out to sea).  The Herra - owned by the National Trust, as is so much of Cornwall's coastline - is in Gillan Creek, which is a tributary of the Helford River in Cornwall.