Featuring the sea.

I was just thinking what to call this post, when I realised that out of the 7 paintings, I painted this week, 6 of them include the sea. It makes me realise how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful area so near to the most glorious coastline in Britain.

Colours of the sea, near St Mary`s.

11x7.5"

Watercolours

This was done as an experiment. I had read somewhere that if you paint Manganese blue onto wet paper, it wouldn`t spread out everywhere uncontrollably. As you can see I wet the sky, with LOTS of water, then painted on manganese blue, and I was surprised to see that it didn`t explode everywhere. It diffused out slightly so that I got the soft edged cloud effects, but not uncontrollably, as it would have done if I`d have used the same amount of water with most of my other colours, so you see, it does pay to play, and experiment, to find out what your paints can do.

Seaton Sluice at low tide.

15x 11"

Watercolours.

Last week we went to Seaton Sluice, and I got some wonderful reference photographs whilst we were there. I used one of the photo`s for this painting, but I changed the composition quite alot.....I omitted a few boats, added some mud banks and lightened the water up. All this was done to give a much more pleasing composition, and to create more light in what was an otherwise dark, dull and  muddy picture.

Julie

15x22"

Drawn in pastels from life.

More fun at life class. Even if I`d drawn this picture with a mans face you would still recognise it as Julie, with that wonderful bright red hair..........well, you would if you knew Julie, that is.

Craster Harbour.

15x11"

Watercolours.

If you like smoked kippers, then Craster is the place to go. Apperently you can buy the best smoked kippers here. I`ve never tried them, so I can`t vouch for that. I`m not too keen on fish. Which is a shame really because my husband is an excellent fisherman, but he has to give most of them away, because I can`t stand the smell.

Marsden Grotto Rocks.

South Shields.

16x12"

Watermixable oils.

Hubby and I had a  lovely day out to South Shields last Wednesday, and one of the places we visited was Marsden`s Grotto. It was stunning.......The views were gorgeous, and there were 100`s if not 1000`s of birds nesting on the rocks and the surrounding cliffs.

We took the lift down to the restaurant, which was carved out of the base of the cliff. When you walked out of the doors of the restaurant there was a tiny enclosed beach, surrounded on three sides by the cliffs, then there were miles and miles of deep blue sea, as far as the eye could see, were these rocks stood proud.

It was completely empty, and all you could hear was the swooshing of the waves and the sounds of the birds.

The restaurant is said to be haunted....

Craster Harbour in warm sepia.

15x11"

Watercolour.

This is the same harbour as above, but from a different view. Painted as part of my warm sepia series.

St Mary`s lighthouse in warm sepia.

15x11"

Watercolour.

Another from my warm sepia series. It was such a lovely day today, that I sat outside in the garden painting, while my lovely husband tended the garden.

More work from the last couple of weeks.

Tide`s out  at the mill.

6x5"

This was just a quickie sketch done on scrap paper to test out the scene for a following oil painting. I must admit, I like this one better, than the oil painting. You can judge for yourself which one you prefer.

Here is the oil version...

9x11"

As you can see, I still need more practice with the watermixable oils.

Hawk

A2

this was drawn in Derwent drawing pencils.

Julie.

A2.

6b pencil sketch.

Drawn from life, in roughly 1 1/2 hours.

Close-up of Julie.

Rockpooling 1

Rockpooling 2

 Approx 7x5"

These were just small quickie sketches, which I did in watercolours.

 Now all I need to do is decide on what to paint next........decisions decisions.



A bunch of new paintings

It`s been a couple of weeks since I last posted. (I`ve been ill)

Anyway, here we go.

 Bluebell wood.

Gouache.

On Bockingford fat pad.

I`ve been trying out gouache again, I`m having fun, but I need a heck of alot more practice. (This is my second painting done in it. As you can see I need loads more practice.

The power of the sea.

15x11"

Some rubbishy paper I found in my stash. Now I remember why I like Arches paper the best.

An artist friend, Dave Armstrong very kindly gave me permission to use his reference photo.

Theatre Royal, Newcastle.

15x 11" on Arches rough.

My daughter went to a play here a couple of weeks ago, so when we went to pick her up I took the opportunity to get some reference photo`s.

In the reference the floor wasn`t wet, but I thought it would add some interest in the foreground if I made it look wet............the only trouble is......I forgot to paint in a couple of umberella`s......lol. I will have to rectify that.

Cullercoats Bay.

16x12"

Watermixable oils.

I enjoyed painting this scene. I have recently started using watermixable oils. (Even though I`ve had a set for years)...........and I have to say, I`m loving working with  them. They dry quicker, there`s no smells ( I must admit, I do like the smell of turps though)  and you get all the blending properties of oil paints.

Low lights in warm sepia.

15x11"

I might have already posted this, but I`m not sure. This was painted using Jackson`s own brand watercolour. It was a free sample that I was testing out. I enjoyed using it, and I will most probably continue working with this colour to do a series of works. (The colour is more of a warm browney colour IRL)