Day out painting in Bristol

Last Saturday I headed to Bristol for a day out painting with the Plein Air Society (a group of plein air painters meeting every month in a different city). We were so lucky with the weather as the sun was shining all day, which has become pretty rare here in rainy England! After meeting for a quick coffee we headed for the top of Clifton with views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Here is my first painting of the day (click on all pictures to enlarge):

Clifton Suspension Bridge in the morning   12"x10"  oil on board

Below you can see my set up. We were painting in "contre jour", facing the sun, which was quite blinding but it gave interesting contrasts in the painting:

That's me, towards the end of the painting session:

I loved the variety of greens getting cooler and more purple as they recede in the distance:

Detail1

I must admit I added the bridge railing details back in the studio as my hand was too shaky and it was a bit too windy on the spot to be able to draw a straight line!

I loved the sun reflection shining on the water:

Detail2

As you can see below, I was surrounded by two talented painters on that day - (click on the name for website): Wayne Attwood from Birmingham and Tom Hughes from Bristol. They both produced great work on the day and were rather well equipped. In fact, they were both showing off a bit with their sun umbrella but it was so windy that after only a few minutes Tom's got broken and Wayne's flew over the edge! Nature always has the last word!

Tom Hughes in action

Wayne Attwood working on his little gem

Andrew Taylor (below left) arrived a bit later but managed to do a quick painting of the view. Ian Mood (not pictured) was sketching a few meters away.

After a quick lunch break we decided to turn around and paint the beautiful view over the Avon Gorge which was bathed on that day by a lovely pink light:

Leigh Woods and The Avon Gorge, Bristol, September afternoon   16"x9"  oil on board

Here we are, all lined up (And someone is still not giving up on the umbrella):

My painting after around 30 minutes:

and towards the end...

I confirm there is an actual view of the gorge behind that bush,
I'm not just imagining this scene from the view of the bush... 

Detail

Andrew at work

Tom

Wayne

After we finished that sitting, it was around 5.30 and we all felt like maybe we could squeeze a last quick painting before calling it a day. I decided to turn around again and paint the view towards the Suspension Bridge with the tree in the foreground:

I was well into it when I realised that I was the only one painting and the other painters were just relaxing on the bench and waiting to go to the pub. A bit of pressure for me to do this one very quickly then!

I was painting a lady on the bench but she moved away before I got a chance to paint her properly so I wiped her off and Andrew kindly sat for me. He kept moving so one could hear me shouting every 3 minutes "Stop moving Andrew!". I did this in about 30 minutes and spent an other 20 minutes at home adding a few details as I ran out of time since the pub was calling for us!

Andrew on a bench playing with his camera,
Clifton Suspension Bridge, September evening
10"x7"  oil on board

Detail1

Detail2

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On the way up to the Cliff Top, Cheddar

As I'm wrapped up in blankets with the heating on maximum, here is a reminder of the hot and sunny summer days that seem so far away. This is a painting of a path to the cliff top in Cheddar. I went painting there last summer with the Plein Air Society (click here to view my previous post) and took a few photographs of the views I didn't have the time to paint on the day - I just finished this one in the studio. 

On the way up to the Cliff Top, Cheddar    oil on board   10"x8"

This is slightly different to my usual style, probably because this sunny day view offered very strong contrasts which I don't always I have the chance to experiment with on the usual misty - grey english weather...

Detail

Here is below the reference photograph. I love compositions that invite to viewer to wander in the painting so I hope I managed to achieve this. I love the variety of greens in here and I remember the heat and the scorching sunshine just by looking at this.

Salisbury with the Plein Air Society

A couple of weeks ago I went painting in Salisbury with the UK Plein Air Society. It was a chilly bright November morning. We were about 8 meeting there and after a quick walk around town we all agreed that the sunshine on this archway would be a perfect painting subject:

Gateway, Salisbury, November morning   10"x8"  oil on board

Detail

I managed to find a little corner against a wall to get protection from the cold wind and still get a good view of the Gateway:

We all set up behind each others trying to still leave some room on the pavement for the pedestrians. I was so glad I had my proper winter coat because it was pretty cold.

That's me with the beret and the french accent - I just needed a baguette under my arm and a moody attitude to give the full stereotype of the french painter ;) (I've stopped explaining that I'm actually from Belgium as people don't seem to find it as glamourous) 

After a warm soup and a good cup of english tea, we headed for our second and last painting of the day. Although the Salisbury Cathedral in the winter sunshine was begging to be painted, I fancied something a bit more simple so the park behind the cathedral turned out to be the perfect subject. Some sheep across the water really caught me eye so I decided to tackle this typical english scenery:

Sheep, late afternoon, Salisbury   7"x10"   oil on board

This was such an inspiring scene. The crisp subtle winter light and the quietness of the place reminded me of the landscapes in Jane Austen's novels. I almost started to believe that Mr Darcy would turn up from the mist but unfortunately I could only count on the sheep to keep me company!

Detail

This was a challenge in the way that the sun was right in my eyes. I felt I almost blinded myself looking at the scene so I made myself only look for a few seconds and paint from memory for a few minutes.

A stylish change of hat to cope with the sun - painting can be fashionable afterall:

Not far from where I was, Andrew Taylor painted a beautiful water scene which he managed to create only in a few minutes...

I'm loving the quality of light in Winter so despite of the cold, I'm very excited about this new painting season. Now, bring on the snow I say...

Cheddar with the Plein Air Society

Yesterday I went painting in the Cheddar Gorge with the Plein Air Society group. Well, I say "group" but since Andrew and I couldn't find anybody, it was actually just the two of us (so a group of two then). The heat didn't stop us from walking right to the top of the Cliff - I was putting on a brave face (a bright red face that is) but wasn't that far from fainting!

Here is the first painting I did:

Views from the Cliff Top, Cheddar    10"x8"  oil on board

This spot was slightly off the path and offering a wonderful view across Cheddar and beyond. For some reason, I couldn't get the Jurassic park tune out of my head while painting this (probably because of the real sense of drama in the place). I actually had to stop myself from painting dinosaurs in there.

Andrew feeling inspired

I was so glad I took my umbrella  - I would have burnt like a toast otherwise

That's me working hard as always

The second painting was a small one I made on the way down in a lovely place we spotted on the way up but saved it for the end. I had a great time painting it apart from the fact that my umbrella fixing broke so I was holding it in one hand and painting with the other (no spare hand to get rid of the mosquitos unfortunately)

On the way down from the Cliff Top, Cheddar   6"x8" oil on board

What caught my eye was the lovely curvy path with patches of light disappearing into the dark woods. A theme and composition I have done many times now and always gives me great satisfaction.

Cardiff with the Plein Air Society

Last Sunday I went painting in Cardiff with the Plein Air Society group and I had a wonderful time. I did 3 paintings on the day but finished them all at home.

In the morning we went painting the beautiful City Hall. It was quite a challenge as the light kept changing. I tried to catch the light reflections on the building during the rare minutes the sun showed up. Here is my first painting:

Cardiff city Hall, winter morning     oil on board 12"x10"

The inspiring building

My unfinished painting after an hour

Antony Bridge went for the biggest canvas, finished first, and achieved
a beautiful result - what's his secret??

No rain would stop Glynis Dray in the making of her masterpiece!

An that's me all wrapped up - always keeping my natural sense
of fashion and elegance.... (cough)....

In the afternoon we headed to the gardens behind Cardiff Castle where I did my second painting:

Bute Park, winter afternoon, Cardiff     oil on board  12"x10"

Again the light was changing all the time and it rained half the time but I decided to go for the sunny version.

As we were painting, it seems that a "paparazzi" caught snapshots of Antony and I from all angles!

Finally, after a comforting cup of tea some of us headed for a last quick painting at the Bay before heading home. There was the most beautiful sunset but we literally only had minutes to capture it.
Here is my last painting of the day:

Cardiff Bay, winter sunset    oil on board   10"x8"

The picture doesn't tell the whole story...

Andrew Taylor was facing the other direction
and did a lovely marine sunset piece

That's me starting the painting