I love days when it's just me painting, whether outdoors or in my studio. However I couldn't do only that day after day after day. I find that teaching and writing about painting both give me much needed structure, the impetus of new ideas, the time to review what I'm doing and the chance to get out and see people. I like the balance and how I manage to fit it all in, although it does all take a lot of planning time which sometimes overwhelms me a little! I am protective of my painting time and very careful not to over commit on the teaching front which could be easily done. I know and expect that each workshop and demo takes an equal amount of planning and preparation time and so I make sure to space these events out in my diary with plenty of my own painting time in between. The jobs I would probably outsource if I could are my accounts, my photography and framing. Plus technical computer things that I don't understand and hurt my brain! Oh, and cleaning and... hang on, I'm getting quite carried away now.
It's great to be able to get to know a painting place by going back again and again. Here are two paintings from Sutton-on-sea in Lincolnshire which is my nearest stretch of coast, both from this year. The first one was painted on a sunny day last month, and the other on a wintry day in February. They are both the same size (10" x 20") so I think it would be lovely to frame and hang them together.
I like to paint the sea in the context of where it fits into the landscape rather than painting just a section of the water or a slice of sea and sky which are generic and could be anywhere. To me painting seascapes is more about painting a portrait of a particular place at a particular time of day at a certain time of the year.
