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):
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| 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:
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| 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:
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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!
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| Tom Hughes in action |
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| 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:
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| 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...
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| 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... |
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| Detail |
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| Andrew at work |
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| Tom |
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| Wayne |
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!
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| Andrew on a bench playing with his camera, Clifton Suspension Bridge, September evening 10"x7" oil on board |
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| Detail1 |
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| Detail2 |
My paintings are available for sale directly from me or through a gallery and can be shipped worldwide. Prices depends on size and subject and generally range from £100 to £500. Please email me to check prices and availability at valpirlot1@hotmail.com
