East view interior

Red sail at East view

Well of course... it's the first thing I noticed when I walked in to this beautiful fishermens cottage in Staithes... a big red sail in the window. What a beautiful cottage and a beautiful subject. I painted this in situ with my small antique pochade box but I'm keen to also paint a version in the studio at a later date. I love love love coastal cottages :-)

Lyme Regis harbour

Lyme Regis harbour
8" x 10"

While we're on a maritime theme here's a little plein air study from beautiful Lyme Regis a couple of weeks ago. I was in Somerset for a demo and I was in Lyme Regis just to have a lovely day with my good friend Jean Stevens. And fish and chips, of course. We got dive bombed by seagulls, boy are they big and scary when they swoop down on your head!

Managed one painting and I loved the view from up here. Although it was a really bright day it was very breezy. So much so that it was one of those sessions that you really can't place a brushwork exactly where you want it because the wind takes your arm.

Dusty's deckchair shack

Dusty's deckchair shack
24 x 30cms

This is one of many lovely small works that may tempt you when you visit my exhibition this year. I painted this on the beach in Great Yarmouth at the end of September - it was such a gorgeous day! One of the last real summer days this year and what a fantastic subject :-)

I'm happy to say that I'm able to take credit card payments in the gallery this year as well as online. The whole exhibition will be available to view and purchase via my website when it opens in real life so if you're too far away to get in to the gallery to see me you can still enjoy a browse.

If you'd like to have your portrait painted during the exhibition please let me know in advance so we can book in a date.

Solo exhibition in Nottingham 'A lighter touch' opens on Friday 13th November until Sunday 22nd November, at 71 Friar Lane Nottingham NG1 6DH. I will be in the gallery each day and showing around 70 new paintings. We will have late night openings until 7.30pm on Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Friday 20th. All other days opening hours are 10.00am to 5.00pm. Ten days only, don't miss it! 

View from the top

View from the top
Oils 24 x 30 cms (unframed size)
£550

Here's another from my Staithes weekend, started as a demo painting and finished off in the studio this week. For this view you need to walk up to the top of Cowbar rise, and then you get this wonderful scene whereby the horizon line rises so high up against the cliff side. When the sun was shining the sea became that beautiful deep rich blue against the warm sunlit rock. When the sky was grey and full of rain the sea became a light grey too.

My main point of interest in this painting was the sunlit side of the nearest white house, and the dark of the shadowy green foliage adjacent to it. As a secondary point of interest the boat in the beck, with a rope leading your eye down to it in a pleasing arc. The grassy foreground provides a useful rest area within the painting. 

This is one of the paintings I'll be taking to the Studio Eleven gallery in Hull at the weekend.

Portscatho harbour in evening light

Portscatho harbour, evening light

The short break in Portscatho resulted in four paintings, this one on the evening I arrived and then three on what was to prove the hottest day of the year so far!

The harbour here is so pretty and I adored the sweep of the hill and those white houses lit by the evening sun. Almost every house in Portscatho is whitewashed. Can you imagine how dazzling that can be on a 'blue sky' day?

Here are a few photos I took along the way...

And here's a snap of it in it's frame, white washed to match the houses and looking rather spiffing!

And all my Portscatho paintings as well as three of my Mousehole and two Sennen cove paintings are now available to buy from the beautiful Harbour Gallery in Portscatho :-)

Gulls at Essaouira

Gulls at Essaouira 10" x 14"

Here's another one painted plein air in Morocco. I really wanted this one to be about the gulls, there are so many here! The fish sellers throw their scraps on this wall and these are the fattest, fittest looking gulls you've ever seen! Of course it's difficult to paint moving birds. I did also take photos and have started looking at those and sketching some of the shapes of the birds in flight in my sketchbook, which will hopefully be of help next time I am in the same situation.

There are lots of cats living all around the harbour area too, and I'm pleased that one jumped up onto the wall so that I could get it in the painting. It actually rained for about three quarters of an hour while I was doing this one but I carried on, holding an umbrella in my left hand.

Are you free on Thursday June 6th or Sunday June 9th and would you like to come and paint with me at the Patchings festival? We will be painting a still life with cupcakes in acrylics. It's a three hour workshop and the cost is £50. For that you receive over £65 worth of Daler Rowney materials to take away with you, free entrance to the Patchings festival (which is a great day out!) and a cupcake (gift from me!). You can easily book a place online by following this link here - Patchings workshop 2013!