"Pier days and Matinees" Painting Worthing seafront

Worthing pier and the Dome cinema, West Sussex

Back in the early days of  Summer our explorations took us down to the seaside town of Worthing in West Sussex. I wanted to add a new area to my "Sussex by the sea" series of paintings and I had seen a few things on the interenet that I thought would be interesting.
We were very lucky as it turned out to be the best weather of the year, just perfect for photographing the views !
I have already painted the boats and colourful houses on west beach...

"Bed, Breakfast and Boats"  Acrylic on canvas

                                                                               now  I want to cover the pier and the Dome cinema.
 Both are very dominant on the seafront and each has it's own interesting history to it . (see links below)
I had thought about painting them separately but after a lot of umming and arhhing I have decided that they would make a better composition together.
 To me they go hand in hand as they represent many many years of Worthing's seaside entertainment.
I also liked the empty deckchairs .....the best front seats  waiting for the next show....
Work in progress
                                 "Pier days and Matinees" Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"
                             

It's unfortunately not a very clear photo today, the weather's rather grim so not very good for photography. However, it does show enough to give the general idea of the composition.
It's taken about 3 days to get to this point, with so many different textures and patterns involved it will be quite slow progress. Now that I've painted in most of the first layers of paint I can start building up the depth and detail.
.......Oh the detail! I spent 6 hours painting today, mostly on the buildings in the background. Because there is so much small detail it felt like I hadn't progressed very much. I'm glad that I'm taking photos as it means I can see how much I have achieved . There's still a lot to do but the small buildings are now half way there.....

Making progress on the background detail

 After spending yesterday working on the fiddly bits I thought that today I would have a break from them and start work on the foreground . It's brought the painting together a bit more now and hopefully I will be able to finish the background tomorrow.

Making progress on painting the foreground

Oh my! Another six hours of tiny detail ! It felt a bit never ending so I decided with stubborn determination to just keep painting...finally I got there! ......
                                           

"Pier days and Matinees" (Worthing, Sussex)  Acrylic on canvas

Interesting links   :  The Dome Cinema http://www.worthingdome.com/history.html
                                Worthing pier   http://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/worthing-pier/#history

"Harvest time over Glynde" Painting the South Downs of Glynde and Beddingham

Views from Beddingham hill, East Sussex

As the Summer comes to a close the fields of the South Downs turn golden with crops  ready to harvest. My walk this time took me up Beddingham hill just south west of Lewes. The top of the hill was awash with wild flowers and grasses that seemed to dance in the breeze.
Looking north the view over the Sussex Weald  was stunning, with the village of Glynde nestled in the middle surrounded by the colourful patchwork harvest fields.
 It was just the view that I wanted to paint.....
                                     "Harvest time over Glynde"
                                  Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"

 

Painting the view over the village of Glynde from Beddingham hill.

It reminded me of the commission work that I undertook earlier in the year for a lady in Cheshire. I don't often take on commissions but the subjects were so similar to my style that I couldn't resist....

Acrylic painting commissions "Cloud View" and "Upton Fold Farm"