"Love on a sea breeze!" Eastbourne, Sussex

Eastbourne beach and pier

February has arrived, the month of romance.
The days are getting longer and  flowers are starting to come into bloom...a sign that Spring is on the horizon.
It is a month of unpredictable weather when we wrap up warm and embrace the days of sunshine.
These are the moments that make memories.
 Moments together.
Moments that need no words......
                                        "Love on a sea breeze"
                                                Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18" 

"Love on a sea breeze" Painting a little romance on Eastbourne beach, Sussex

 

"Lollipops and lace" Summer ice cream painting and Firle Vintage air

The Vintage Fair at Firle Place, Sussex

I have been hoping for another good seaside trip but the best sunshine days seem to only fall at the weekends. I don't like crowded places so the weekends are no good to me.
We did however spend a lovely day at the Vintage Fair that is held at Firle Place in East Sussex.
Firle place is a splendid house, nestled at the foot of the South Downs with stunning views over the Sussex Weald.

Firle Place, East Sussex

It was a glorious Summer's day and the grounds were filled with traditional fair ground rides, vintage cars and a large selection of stalls selling various retro themed items. The cider tent also seemed to be very popular !
It was a very English  "strawberries and cream" sort of day.
For several months now I have wanted to find a colourful ice cream van to paint and add to my Summertime collection, but the only one that I really liked was a van called Vintage Scoops
 that I had seen in Lewes town a few times. Unfortunately it was parked in the shade  which wasn't ideal as the colours didn't look their best.  Imagine my delight when I spotted it at the fair!
I love the creative and fun thinking that they have put together and I'm going to love painting it even more.....
Work in progress.....
                                           " Lollipops and Lace"
                                                 Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"
 It's taken a couple of days to get the composition sketched out as there will be quite a bit of detail involved. I need to build up areas of opaque colour first to give me a base to work on...

Starting to paint the ice cream van

I've spent several hours today on the inside of the van. There's quite a lot of flags and bits and pieces that need painting then putting into the shade before I can progress onto the outside. A large area of the windows have writing on so I need to make sure the paint has dried right out before I can continue.

Starting to paint the inside of the van

I have been working on some of the detail which puts more colour into the composition. The embroidered table cloth now needs the shading added ...

Adding a bit more detail to the composition

I have spent today painting bits and pieces all over the place! I made a couple of small alterations, there wasn't really anything wrong but there was a few things that were niggling me.
The van is beginning to shape up a bit more now and adding some of the shadows has given it more depth. I'm happy with it so far.
I have a busy Bank Holiday weekend ahead so I shall continue painting on Monday.  :)

Adding the shading to the painting starts to give it more depth

I'm back after spending a lovely weekend with my children and grandchildren, luckily the weather stayed dry and we even saw a bit of sunshine! Today I'm back home and it's raining once again!  Oh well, a good excuse to get on with the painting.  It's been another day of painting a bit here and a bit there but I'm happy with the progress and expect to have it finished in a couple of days...

Good progress being made on the painting

It's been an interesting and fun composition to paint and the ladies from Vintage Scoops love it :) ...

                                               "Lollipops and Lace"
                                                      Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"

Painting of the Vintage Scoops ice cream van

 

"Buttercups and Brooks" (Rodmell and Lewes, East Sussex)

Lewes Brooks

In the middle of the South Downs on the south side of Lewes is a flood plain where the River Ouse takes it's last journey before reaching the sea at Newhaven.

The River Ouse and Mount Caburn in the background

The area is made up of fields and drainage brooks and is a haven for wild birds.

To the west the picturesque villages of Iford, Rodmell and Southease are nestled at the base of the Downs with their chocolate box houses and narrow country lanes.

Iford and Rodmell

 I left Rodmell and walked along a chalk track heading towards the river, June brings the fields alive with a multitude of golden buttercups set off by the vertical reeds and grasses that line the brooks.
It looked so pretty in the sunshine!  Looking back at the village all you could see were a few roof tops and a glimpse of the church. A lovely composition to paint.

                                          "Buttercups and Brooks"
                                            Acrylic on box canvas 12"x 16"x 1.5"

"Buttercups and Brooks" Acrylic painting of Rodmell and Lewes brooks

 On my last visit to this area I painted Southease as seen from Itford Hill....
"Summer over Southease"
                                            

"Summer Green" Summer painting of the South Downs

To beat the Winter blues I've decided to go back to Summer!
Days of wonderful sunshine, blue skies and lush greens, blanketing the South Downs .
  A beautiful patchwork of fields, meadows and pastures all edged off with the gentle lace flowers of wild cow parsley.....
I know several artists that avoid green, it can be an awkward colour to paint with and can often end up looking dull and lifeless. I think acrylics lend themselves well to this, as layering with various shades of yellow and green keeps the results bright and vibrant.
I started with the South Downs in the distance where the shrubs and trees add to the softness of the slopes...

Next came the patchwork fields, each different in shade and texture...

Finally the foreground is brought to life by the wild, lace- like flowers of the cow parsley...

                                    "Summer Green"
                                  

                                                      Acrylic on box canvas 18"x 24"x 1.5"

Summertime in East Chiltington

                                                                  BUY 

Painting the fishing boats of The Stade, Hastings

A couple of weeks ago I was a lucky winner of some free travel tickets with Southern Rail which meant I could travel any where I wanted in the South Downs area .My sister and I eventually decided on a trip to Hastings (East Sussex).
The town is steeped in history including the battle of 1066 and smugglers tales from days of old.
My favourite part is The Stade with it's fishing boats and tall, dark, net shops.
( It is the largest beach fishing fleet in Europe)
 The area is so full of colour and character, a real painter's paradise!
I've painted one of the smaller boats before, this time I thought I would try something a bit more challenging and paint them with their fishing nets and tackle. The skies were quite overcast and dark which added to the whole atmosphere of the scene.
Work in progress, acrylic 24"x 12" .
The dark skies have been painted and work begun on the 2 fishing boats ...

Day 2 and progress is slow. There's so much small detail that It gets very tiring on the eyes. I've managed to add a bit more colour though and hopefully tomorrows session will see it start to come together more .

Day 3. A good painting day today! I've almost completed all of the detail on the boats. It will all seem a lot easier now that they're done. There's still a fair bit to do and a lot of seagulls to be added ...

Day 4 and another good and final painting day. The nets and pots took a while to paint but I eventually finished them. The only thing I didn't have was a title,  the Hastings Fishermens Museum have suggested "Pots and Dans". I had to ask what a "dan" was as my knowledge of sea fishing is pretty much non existent . I have now learnt that it is the flag that marks where the nets are.
 Such an apt and inspired title !
So here is the finished painting, not a great photo of it as the light is not very good today. You can get a better view by clicking on the picture....
   
                                                     "Pots and Dans"(Sold)
                                                  Acrylic on stretched canvas 24"x 12"

"Pots and Dans", The Stade, Hastings, Sussex

More paintings of the Sussex coast

The Hastings Fishermens Museum

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hastings-Stade-Walks/157167324395190?fref=ts