"Goring-by-Sea" and commission painting

Goring-by-Sea,West Sussex

Good grief ! Where did August go? It seems to have gone so quickly and now we're sadly at the end of the Summer !
It's been a busy month. I don't often take on commissions as they can be restrictive but I received a request that was of a local scene from Burgess Hill and I couldn't resist the challenge!
The painting includes a waterfall, something that I havn't done before.
It's an enchanting view that  that made me think of the wonderful art of Arthur Rackham

Arthur Rackham

  Situated in a rather shady area meant that it wasn't easy to see the detail of some areas but all in all I was happy with the result.....
                                           "Down by the Witch's Den" 
                        

"Down by the Witch's Den" Acrylic on canvas 

After so much green I decided to head back to the seaside for my next painting. This time the subject was a splendid blue fishing boat close to the beach huts at Goring-by-sea in West Sussex.
It's a scene that I was looking forward to painting, that is until the hot weather arrived!
With paint drying so quickly it became harder and harder to put in the details .
I was getting up before the birds just to make progress !  I eventually managed to complete it but every time I look at it I remember how much of a task it became so it's perhaps not my most favourite painting at the moment.....

                                               "Goring-by-Sea" 

Painting of the fishing boat and beach huts at Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex

 

"Flying Time" Painting of Worthing pier

Worthing pier, Sussex

Well, the last 10 days have passed in a haze of sleepless nights and constant coughing ! I can cope with the cough but not getting much sleep just brings everything to a halt .
The most frustrating thing is that we've had some wonderful sunny weather and I've not been well enough to venture out.
I am feeling  better today and have decided to head back to last Summer when we visited Worthing .
I keep finding myself drawn to different and interesting types of architecture. Brighton pier is dominated by the Victorian curls and twirls . In contrast Worthing pier is full of curves and Art Deco influences.
 The Southern Pavilion at the end of the pier has recently been refurbished and looks rather splendid!

The Southern Pavilion on Worthing Pier

In the middle of the pier is the amusement arcade where a large Art Deco clock dominates the front of the building. I love the striking combination of the sharp lines against the curves of the structure, all topped of by the bright red sign on the top.

The Art Deco clock on Worthing Pier

This is the part of the pier that will be the main subject of my painting.
 It's here in the sunshine where you can sit and watch the seagulls swoop and fly by as they eagerly watch and wait for the fishermen to bring in their catch.

Work in progress              "Flying Time"  Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18" 

 I've been busy sketching out the composition . It's all very rough at the moment but at this stage all I need to do is mark in where everything will go and get the sky painted...

Sketching in the composition

  I sold a painting today so that was good news. Luckily I live just a short distance away from the post office so I didn't have to be out for long as I'm itching to get on with some more painting.
Alas not much progress today though. I have put in the first layer of the sea and started a few bits here and there....

Waiting for the sea to dry!

Lots of progress  building up the layers of paint and making a start on other areas of the composition. I've even added some of the finer detail...

Starting to build up the composition

It's now 3 days later and painting is going well!
 I had a break from it over the weekend to catch up with the boring things like housework. I can't paint if there are things to be done so a good blitz around the house leaves the coming week clear to crack on.
The composition will gradually start to come to life from now on as the finer detail is added .

Adding more depth to the colours and starting to define the smaller parts

The left hand side of the background is now complete , although using such small brushes means it is rather slow....but it's also addictive! Another 2-3 days should see it completed.
In the mean time I have sold another painting. The man in the Post Office is now greeting me with
"You again?" :)  Life is good.

Completing the left hand side of the background

So finally it's taken another 2 days of working on the detail and finishing off the remaining areas . It feels like it's been a long journey but I have thoroughly enjoyed spending my days thinking of nothing but the sunshine and seaside of Worthing beach :) ...
                                            "Flying Time" (Sold)
                            Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18" 

"Flying Time" Painting of Worthing pier, Sussex

Painting the Summer in Winter

Back to the seaside

The dark bleak days have arrived.
This is the time of the year that I dislike the most and struggle to keep upbeat and enthusiastic.
 This year however I have decided that my best plan of action will be to stay with the memories of the Summer , the bright colourful seaside days !
 I made sure to make as many trips to the coast that I could in preparation of the dark Winter months, I hope my plan works!
My first painting takes me back to the glorious sunshine of Worthing beach in West Sussex.
 Blue skies, fishing boats and views of the pier..

                            "Port side to Pier" Worthing, Sussex (Sold)
                                         Acrylic on canvas  

"Port side to Pier" Painting of Worthing beach, Sussex

My next seaside memory is of the people relaxing on the beach. Hot sunny days, the sound of the sea and a good bottle of wine! ;)

                                                          "Sun Soaked"
                                    

"Sun Soaked" Acrylic beach painting

"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

"Bed, Breakfast and Boats" Painting the scene at East Worthing beach

East Worthing, West Sussex

Part of the reason for my recent trip to Worthing (West Sussex) was to explore the area east of the pier.
 Here you will find  typical seaside bed and breakfast houses all wonderfully painted in different candy colours, like chunks of seaside rock.
They overlook the beach, scattered with fishing boats  and where the fishermen  sell their daily catch.
The whole scene really captures the feel of  the British coast and a wonderful subject to paint.
It won't be the easiest picture that I have ever painted as there is so much detail , the more I look the more I see ! But I think it will be one of my favourites and probably the most complex composition of the Summer.
So...I had better get painting!
Work in progress  ....
" Bed, Breakfast and Boats", Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"x 0.5"
I have so far spent about 5 days painting, each part needs 3-4 layers of paint before I can start overlaying with different tones, shading and highlights...it's a long process so I tend to flit around the canvas on different bits to allow other areas to dry.

Painting the beach at Worthing, West Sussex

 Once the paint has thoroughly dried I can start to add some of the finer detail...

Work in progress "Bed, Breakfast and Boats"

Good progress and the painting is starting to come to life :) ...

Finally, after an awful lot of painting I have completed the picture. It's been a bit of a labour of love at times but I've enjoyed every moment ...

                                           "Bed, Breakfast and Boats" (Worthing)

"Bed, Breakfast and Boats" acrylic painting of the beach at Worthing, West sussex

 

Seaside and Heatwave

Heading out to the beach

For the past few weeks I have been planning a trip to Worthing in West Sussex.
 I have spent many hours researching the coastal resorts for the best places to visit to take some reference photos for painting. I wanted a typical British seaside with blue skies and sunshine ....not such an easy task to achieve in this country!
Worthing appeared to have all that I required....pier....boats....sea....sand....deckchairs....etc.
I just needed the weather....and then.....wow! A heatwave! Blue skies and sunshine!
It has coincided with Graham having a week off from work which meant my explorations would be much better with him there.
I'm happy exploring on my own but there are times that it would be so much nicer to have some company...to share a moment....to make memories .
Mmmm company.....now there lies a dilemma....
Yes, it would be good to have the company and I have to admit there are times when I get bored of my own, but it's not that easy as I don't really know many people and they would have to fit in with my criteria .....
1: No speeding ahead....the scenery changes with every step and I need to keep stopping and checking out the view in every direction....you never know when the perfect view/ composition will suddenly appear.
2: No mobile phones.....you may as well stay at home!
3: No constant talking....It's a distraction! Look around....take in the scenery....embrace...enjoy!
Other than that all are welcome....ha ha!
Anyway....back to Worthing. As it happens yesterday gave us the most perfect weather. There was not one single cloud in the sky and the sea was beautiful!

Add caption

 I was delighted to find so many different subjects to paint and easily managed to stock up with reference photos . A wonderful mixture of specific scenes of the location and an assortment that will contribute to a selection of more generic subjects that I can combine and use to play with ideas.

Worthing , West Sussex

As it was such a glorious day we headed on to South Lancing to check out the beach huts, they wern't at their best but it gave them a bit more charm in a strange sort of way....weathered....used...and loved...

Beach huts at Lancing beach

After a brief visit we moved on to Shoreham harbour, it's an area that combines industry with history and a rather pretty beach where clumps of wild flowers grow among the pebbles...

Shoreham beach and harbour

So....there's a peek of my day out....my explorations....my inspirations.....!
 There will be several paintings on the horizon as a result from our wonderful visit.
 Firstly I wanted to capture the general feel and ambiance of the day....so...here we go...
Work in progress...." High tide and Heatwave"
                                      My first day has been spent painting in the composition and filling in the larger areas. I have also started work on the pebbles as it can be quite time consuming.

Work in progress, "High tide and heatwave" Acrylic on canvas

Today I have concentrated on the deck chairs, lots of wonderful Summer colours! It will take a couple of days to complete them as the wooden frames are all different shades and require several coats of paint to achieve the desired result....

Painting in the deck chairs

I was up this morning with the sun rise! Far too early, but it's a habit I can't get out of . Once I'm awake I find it impossible to just lie in bed . The result was a 6am early painting session !
It did however turn out to my advantage as it turned into another very hot day, so much so that the paint was drying on my brush before I could paint with it! By noon I had to admit defeat but I'm happy with the day's progress......

Seagull and shadows now add to the painting

Another early painting session this morning means the painting is now all finished...

                                    High tide and Heatwave"
                              Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"

"High tide and Heatwave" Acrylic painting of deck chairs on the beach