Pendower beach

Pendower beach
24 x 30 cms

From beautiful France to beautiful Cornish seascapes. I love the curve of this creek across the sand at Pendower beach, near Portscatho. A quiet sandy cove, a lucky find, a picnic awaits :-)

Are you on holiday in Cornwall this week? If so please come and see me at the Fisherman's shelter by the harbour in Portscatho. I'll be there showing paintings on Tuesday evening, and all day Wednesday and Thursday. I'd love to see you :-)

Sun lounger

Sun lounger
8" x 10"

Me and Maisie have spent many gorgeous hours on these sun loungers side by side. I'm reading or writing or surfing Pinterest, and every now and then Maisie asks me to throw an apple that's fallen from the tree. We can hear the odd call from a cockerel, and distant murmur of children playing on the sports field and not a great deal else. 

So enticing are our candy striped loungers here on the island, it was about time I painted them.

In the cooling shade

In the cooling shade
Oils approx 12" x 16"

I'm telling you the terrace was the only place to be in the afternoons... unless you were in the pool, or having a siesta in a darkened room ;-)

Bees in the orchard

Bees in the orchard
Oils 10" x 14"

We've had some fantastic weather this week in Lincolnshire, so I had to get out painting and where better than the gorgeous gardens at Gunby Hall? I headed for my favourite spot but the pond was brown and left me uninspired. This turned out to be a good thing as I wandered into this gorgeous orchard, and I've always hankered after painting bee hives! How exciting! The setting could not have been more lovely, and I'm very glad I came.

Can you see the bees? ;-)

Not a cloud in the sky

Carp pond at Gunby Hall

Carp pond at Gunby Hall
Oils 12" x 16"

On an absolutely beautiful day I had to drop everything else and get out with my paints. I actually went looking for some cows that I'd seen recently but they weren't in the field, so I continued in an easterly direction until I reached beautiful Gunby Hall again. Once there, I knew I would head for the carp pond. I couldn't believe how much it had changed in the last couple of weeks. This yellowy green weed that you can see on the right hand side of my painting had spread far and wide under the surface of the water. I'm sure it's nutritious for the fish but it does rather obliterate all reflections in that area. 

Still, I had a wonderful trip and there were sky reflections still to be had! I'm also looking forward to when the water lilies come into flower, and I'm going to get back here with a model first chance I get. 

Also, the team at Gunby Hall looked after me well and gave me a coffee and with the sun shining too, what could be better? :-)

Porthcurnick beach in summer

Porthcurnick beach in summer
Oils on canvas
14" x 18" 

I spent some time finishing off the demo painting from the weekend, as I was really pleased with the way it was going. It's got a lovely freshness of colour reminiscent of early summer. The sea in Cornwall often looks that gorgeous turquoise colour on a bright sunny day. 

What I wanted to show you in particular are some close up shots so that you can see the nature of the brushwork. For me it is incredibly important to see brush marks in a painting. They are as individual as handwriting, and they tell you a story about how the painting was crafted and what the artist was feeling. They remind you that you are looking at paint on a flat surface, and then when you stand back a few yards everything falls into place and becomes an illusion of space and depth.

A pleasing mix of thin and thick paint, and visible brush marks 

Up close it's just a few light and dark marks

Enough description to read as figures

It also demonstrates how little information you need to give the viewer for them to understand and read the painting. Take the section below for example. When you look at the whole painting from a reasonable viewing distance this reads as a distant headland with buildings and grass, trees, rocks and boats. What is it actually in terms of paint when you take a closer look? Very little information has been given but your mind fills it all in.

The trick is to give the right information I suppose!

Enough information