Cornwall trip - Part 2

Here are 3 more beach paintings from the Cornwall trip (see last week's post for the 3 first paintings). The first one below was done at St Michael's mount on Marazion beach in the morning. Funnily enough I saw (and painted) the Mont St Michel in France a few months ago so it was interesting to see the english version of it.

St Micheals Mount, Marazion beach    6"x8" oil on board

I decided to go for a small board to be able to work quickly and keep it spontaneous

I love my pochade box (guerilla) as it allows you to work on all sizes of boards

Tim King did a lovely painting of the same view next to me

Tim and I then joined the rest of the group which was doing a painting of the beach so we decided to join in and tackle the same scene.

Marazion beach   7"x10"  oil on board

The light kept changing but I tried to capture a bit of the sunlight when it came out

from left to right: Tim King, me, David Bachmann and Michael Richardson 

Everybody working hard (apart from Tim having a snack)

The painting below is the dunes at Carbis Bay. As we arrived we were walking towards the beach and the stroke of light between the dunes caught my eyes. David and Tim carried on walking to get to the beach but I decided to stop there and paint this. I had a really good time painting it (well, apart from the rain and my palette falling in the sand) but wasn't really happy with the result so I decided to start it again on the studio today based on my painting but trying to avoid making the same mistakes. Here it is:

Dunes at Carbis Bay   10"x8"  oil on board

The original painting at the beginning of the session (just before my palette fell in the sand!)

David Pilgrim and Tim were doing a scene on the beach a few meters away

I really felt inspired by that place and would have loved to stay there all day to paint those dunes but I suddenly felt really tired after it and went back to the car to have a quick nap instead. I really hope I can go back there again one day to do more paintings.

To be continued...

Cornwall trip - Part 1

Well, I haven't posted anything for a month but I was away painting in Paris, Cornwall and busy finishing a commission. I will post it all gradually in the next few weeks.
To start with here are 3 paintings from the Cornwall trip. What a great experience! It was organised by the talented Plein Air painter David Pilgrim and also a part of the group were Tim King, Michael Richardson, Roy Connelly, David Bachmann and Anthony Bridge, all very inspiring artists.

Cliffs from Pendeen in a sunny morning       8"x10"  oil on board  

This one above was actually my last painting, done the morning before I caught my train back home. I think it's my favourite because I had such a good time painting it, probably because I knew I had to go in a few hours.  As I was painting this, I really thought "this is the life!"

The water had the most beautiful colours

I didn't paint right on the edge but still close enough to feel the height of the cliff

David was painting a lovely piece of the same view a few meters away from me

This one below was painted on our way to St Ives. Tim, David and I stopped the car on the roadside to have a look at the beautiful countryside, and before we knew it we were all painting like mad. Nothing better than those unplanned ones!

Views of the countryside between Zennor Head and St Ives   8"x10"  oil on board

What caught my eye was the little triangle of sea showing behind the hills

David and Tim painting a beautiful tree a few meters away

Tim and I exchanging serious painting tips (thanks for the pic David!)

This painting below is an other moment of bliss. It was painted at sunset, the last effort of the day after a pretty long painting day. It was also a bit of an effort to get there as it's a steep walk up in the cliff from Sennen beach. But once up there, I suddenly forgot the fatigue and just enjoyed the moment. And for some reasons, I was happy with the painting form start to finish, through every brushstrokes, which has never happened to me before.

Lands End at sunset (Dr Syntax’s Head)      8"x10"  oil on board 

The beautiful golden tones in the rocks caught my eyes

I had to work quickly as the sun gradually disappeared

Here is a picture of the group to finish this post. From left to right: Tim King, myself, David Pilgrim, David Bachmann and Michael Richardson. (In case you wonder the lovely painting on the left is David Bachmann's - although I wish I painted this myself!) As you can see I was the only girl in the group but managed to survive!

To be continued...