Dorset trip - Part 1

I've just come back from a painting trip in Dorset with 3 talented fellow painters (David Pilgrim, Tim King and David Bachmann). We had such a wonderful time. It was pretty intense too... I did 12 paintings in 4 days! Here is the post about my first 4 paintings. (Thanks Tim and David for the action pictures!)

DAY 1 - Friday afternoon - Just off from the train. After quickly dropping our bags at the accommodation we headed for "The Old Harry rocks". I loved the chalkiness of the rocks and the colourful water:

Old Harry Rocks, Handfast Point, Dorset, afternoon1   12"x9"  oil on board

Detail

Old Harry Rocks

It was a lovely sunny afternoon. To avoid the sun shining on my board, I used my umbrella so my painting would be in the shade. It was very windy so I came up with a little trick to keep it in place: instead of fixing it on my easel, I decided to fix it to the most stable/heaviest thing possible - and that's myself. I tied it in a strap (originally for my luggage) which I wrapped around myself and also stretched it to my chair and easel with a couple of elastic bands to keep it in the right position: 

In every plein air painter, there is an "inspector gadget"!

my painting towards the end

Here is David with his umbrella too doing a great little study of the place:

My painting finished, and after a little nap in the sun and a couple of chocolate bars, I started a second little painting, a close-up of the previous format. The sun had just disappeared and the tide was going down but I found interest in the puddles of water which had great reflections and colours in it: 

Old Harry Rocks, Handfast Point, Dorset, afternoon2   7"x5"  oil on board

My board was so small that I had to use my rag to secure it on the easel. And if you look closely, you'll see that my rag is actually an old pair of (clean) underwear from my partner (isn't that romantic!)

That's Tim, well inspired and producing a masterpiece:

DAY 2 - Saturday

We're off to the beautiful Lulworth Cove where there is plenty of choice of scenes for painting. Tim, David and I had a try at the beach from the top of the cliff. Here is my painting:

Lulworth Cove, Dorset, morning  12"10"  oil on board

Detail

All ready to paint

Pretty close to the edge!

Tim in the foreground, David a bit further, and my easel in the distance.

Applying the finishing touches

After a pretty steep walk back to the car, we gathered the energy left to do a second painting, this time, of the views over the distant hills. The lazy me would have been more than happy to paint it from the car park, but David dragged us to the top of the hill to get better views. It nearly killed me but I had to admit he was right! What a view!

Foggy hills in the afternoon at Lulworth Cove, Dorset   16"x9"   oil on board

Detail

I must admit I almost gave up in the middle of that one as I was tired and unhappy with the result. But I got encouraged to carry on so I did, and I managed to turn the painting around and produce something I'm pretty pleased with.

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To be continued...