The long stretch of summer

The long stretch of summer
Oils 12" x 16"

Rather appropriate this as I've just been packing up for our summer holiday in France, can't wait to get there and relax! 

This painting's subject is some children enjoying rock pooling at beautiful St Mawes in Cornwall. It reminds me of that wonderful feeling when you're a child and you break up from school for summer. The holidays stretch out ahead of you, seemingly forever.

I asked my lovely Facebook friends for help with naming this painting and had loads of fabulous suggestions, I am sure to use some of them on future paintings. It's so nice to rope the Facebook and twitter communities in for fresh ideas. It's like inviting a bunch of friends round to the studio for a drink at the end of the working day. :-)

Speaking of twitter it's time for #drawingaugust to start again. I loved it SO much last year that I'm going to try again to draw and post a new drawing each day on twitter with the hashtag drawingaugust. If you are on twitter, why not look us up and join in?

I took a few photos of this one as it was going along...

Silver light at Mousehole

Silver light at Mousehole
8" x 10"

On the one day that it didn't rain for me in Mousehole this is the other painting I achieved, and I'm really pleased with it. You get such blinding sunlight on the water in Mousehole when the sun is shining. Although this looks a lot like a sunset it was actually painted in the morning. In the foreground of the painting you can see that it's high tide in the harbour. The other noticeable feature is the one boat. In winter the vast majority of boats are taken out of the harbour and onto dry land to decrease the risk of damage. A very good thing too when you consider the awful storms we've had this winter.

When I next visit Mousehole in April there will be a lot of boats back in the water, which is good for me for painting. Although, I do very much like this simple uncluttered scene too.

The colours in the dark area of the harbour wall have subtle differences of hue and value which are not apparent on the photo really.

All three of these paintings were delivered on Friday and available to buy now at the Harbour Gallery.

Today I am travelling to a hotel at Gatwick airport ready to fly to Marrakech in the early hours of tomorrow. I may not have any access to wifi while I'm over there so if you don't hear from me that's why. I'll show you all the paintings when I get back.

Hidden garden by the sea

Hidden garden by the sea

I think this must be my favourite from the trip! A magical place, with magical light.. this is a hidden garden by the sea. And that little building above the rocks may well be my studio one day... well a girl can dream can't she? And when it is you must join me there for a petit café or a refreshing glass of Brittany cider :-)

Oyster boats at sunrise

Oyster boats at sunrise, Eastpoint
Oils 9" x 12"

Here I am, back in the UK and unpacked. I spent a lot of today cleaning and tidying my studio and writing my new three page work 'to do' list - daunting!

When we stayed overnight in Carrabelle last week we wanted to get up very early to get to Eastpoint, and when we arrived we were greeted with this fabulous view. There was a whole line of boats with men standing, sitting and leaning on each one, talking to one another. They were obviously waiting for something but I didn't know how long they'd be there so I set up and got to work quickly.
Apart from the very real risk of the subject disappearing altogether, conditions were quite tricky as I was looking straight towards the sun and it was already hot by 8am. There was an unpleasant smell wafting over from the giant mound of oyster shells piled up behind us. I used the triple whammy of baseball cap, sunglasses and easel umbrella to enable me to see the subject without blinding myself!

As I say, I worked quickly and the boats stayed put for about half an hour before gradually leaving, one at a time. I was told the men were reseeding the oyster beds and they had to wait in line before accepting delivery of a bucket load of oyster shells from the big heap and then taking them out to sea. Sorry I can't share a more technical explanation!

The other tricky aspects to this were
a) getting the right tonal value for the water to fall into place with the silhouetted boats and show the sparkle of the sunlight
b) getting the colour right of the water, often tempting to go too blue with water, and there was obvious pinkness reflected from the sky but what I was really after was this subtle silvery grey.

That was all quite a lot to think about before breakfast but I was really pleased that I'd managed to capture an honest impression of those aspects of the scene that had excited me.

It sold almost as soon as it was on the wall in the wetroom, and it was one of those paintings that could have sold ten times over! Everybody wanted it!

Late afternoon at Guerzido beach

Late afternoon at Guerzido beach
Sold

Question: What would you do on another insanely hot October day if you were here with me on the Ile de Brehat? Head for the beach? Yep! Me too! But not for me the swimming or sunbathing because I took my oil paints, so I guess that makes me a little odd because no-one else seemed to be painting....
I am so glad I did today though! Guerzido beach is south facing and I love the silhouettes and the sparkling of light on the water that you get here. Time after time I have tried without too much success to translate that magic into paint on canvas but today I am actually very satisfied that I caught it! I really managed to get what I was seeing - the tones, the colours, and all with a real simplicity in my brush strokes. The whole painting was started and finished in situ and I feel it says enough. So without further ado, here it is for you!
It is oil paint on canvas, 25 x 30cms, and if you like it you can take a look at further information and view all my current auctions by clicking on the 'click to bid' link above.
Please, if you enjoy my blog, tell your friends! Thank you!

Pink sparkly shoes

Click to bid!
Pink sparkly shoes

These are my lovely pink sequinned plimsolls! I had intended to paint outdoors today but it was strangely foggy all morning! Although it turned out to be glorious sunshine all afternoon I had already embarked on this painting after the light catching the sequins had caught my eye! There were all these beautiful pink reflections on the surface behind also. I'm really pleased with the colours and the thick squidgy creaminess of the paint! Another great one for touching... when it's dry!
I bought these shoes from a charity shop for £2 and they had never been worn, certainly not outside. I have always loved them and wearing them never fails to lift my spirits! Sadly they're deteriorating a little here and there so I don't know how much longer we'll be together, which makes me even happier that they've been portrayed on canvas today.
This painting is oils on a deep sided box canvas, 25 x 25cms and is ready to hang straight on the wall without a frame. Please click on the 'click to bid' link above to enter the online auction to win this painting. Bidding will start at $120 which is the equivalent of £76.71!