"Lunch in the Lanes" Painting The Lanes, Brighton

The Lanes, Brighton

I have decided to give myself a challenge and paint a Summer time scene from one of my visits to The Lanes in Brighton.
The Lanes  were once part of a small fishing village. Then the Victorians sought the therapeutic benefits of sea-water and the popularity of Brighton expanded into the town we know today .

There is an intricate maze of twisting alleyways, with a wonderful mix of history, shops,pubs and cafes. The atmosphere in the Summer sunshine is positively bubbling .
I have chosen a scene that contains many different elements , architecture, shops, cafe, trees and flowers...

Work in progress...
                                              "Lunch in the Lanes"
                                                    Acrylic on canvas 18"x 24"

Day 2 of painting The Lanes in Brighton

So far I have spent 13 hours on the composition. There are some awkward angles to get right and plenty of detail ahead. For now though I need to build up the base colours, it's time consuming but worth the effort !

Day 3 of painting The Lanes

 I am pleased to sat that I made good progress today. I've been flitting about painting a bit here and there and have made a good start on the foliage and flowers as well .

Day 4 and 5, starting to add the detail

 The weekend's progress has been much slower. I'm now working with very small brushes and gradually adding some of the detail. All going well so far and I'm enjoying painting process. It has a lot of different things in it which keeps me enthusiastic to add something new each day .

Well, with progress on the slow side I decided not to post  any more works in progress. It would be very boring to see so little change! It has taken a lot of work to complete but it has been fun !

                                            "Lunch in the Lanes"

"Lunch in the Lanes" Acrylic on canvas  (Brighton)

 

"Seaside Seagulls" Painting Brighton pier and seagulls

Brighton pier, Sussex

 The Summer is starting to fade away, the evenings are getting darker and the wonderful sunny days are getting less. This however does not mean I'm ready to leave it behind.... I will have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the Autumn !
 I am so very reluctant to leave the Summer colours and sunshine that have inspired me over the past few months. So much so that for now I shall continue with my very own extended Summer!
My latest painting came about after watching the seagulls on Brighton beach. They get some very bad press but most of their misbehaving is brought about by people feeding them.
Their antics can be very amusing and love them or hate them Brighton just wouldn't be the same without them!
                                   "Seaside Seagulls"
                                     Acrylic on canvas 20"x 16"

"Seaside Seagulls" Acrylic painting on canvas

"Springtime over Fulking" (Sussex). Painting the view from Devil's Dyke, Brighton

Devil's Dyke and Fulking, Sussex

Spring has arrived bringing blue skies and sunshine!
The glorious weather took us off to explore Devil's Dyke just outside of Brighton.
  It's been about 4 years since my last visit and I wanted to take advantage of the good weather to capture the stunning views of the Sussex Weald.
I wasn't disappointed but the wind was so strong and bitterly cold ! We stayed just long enough for me to get some good reference photos (not easy in the wind) and then headed down to explore the villages of Fulking. and Edburton that are nestled at the base of the South Downs.
 The narrow winding lanes took us through the small but pretty villages.
These are the places that we had seen looking west from Devil's Dyke and the subject of my painting.
I wanted to paint this view as not only does it capture the communities that live in the area but also the hills with the South Downs Way heading off in the distance on it's route to Winchester.
A view that goes on forever......

                                           "Springtime over Fulking"
                                                     Acrylic on box canvas 24"x 18"x 1.5"
Work in progress.....

Painting the view over Fulking village (Sussex)

The first few days were spent building up the colours and textures whilst making sure everything was in it's right place. Adding the village was quite straining on my eyes so it was good to hop back and forth between buildings and the earthy grass slopes of the South Downs.
Finally everything came together . I'm pleased with the result and it is a great reminder of our day out where it seemed like we were on the top of the world!
                                         

"Springtime over Fulking" (Sussex) Acrylic painting on box canvas

Wall and close up views

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Paintings of Brighton beach, Part 1

Brighton beach

"Oh I do like to be beside the seaside " :)
 So in this wonderful weather that's where I went !
I took myself down to Brighton again whilst the sun was shining. The tourist season is now well underway and the beach is full of fun and colour.
I usually avoid Brighton at this time of year as it gets so busy, but I wanted to capture some Summertime views . I wasn't disappointed and came back with lots of ideas for painting.
There will definitely be two on the easel from my day out.
The first is the carousel that's situated on the beach. Bright, colourful and seaside fun.
                                                "Seaside Carousel"
                                     Acrylic on box canvas 16"x 20"x 1.5"
I loved this view of the carousel as it looks like the horses are galloping out to sea .
A subject with lots of detail and so vibrant!!!
 I started work on the canopy first , there's a lot of lights to paint in so I thought I can skip back and forth to avoid getting bored.

Starting work on the canopy

We now have a heat wave which makes painting with acrylics very hard ! The paint dries on the brush before you can get it on the canvas, especially with the small brushes that I'm using.

Starting to add the horses to the carousel

I have persevered and made a little more progress to the top and also started to paint in the horses.

Painting in the base

Putting in the base means I can now flit about the painting adding bits as I go and building up the layers on the larger areas. I really need to add more of the lights next .

 

Most of today was spent adding the lights! When the canopy is finished I will give it a wash of dark vermilion to put it in the shade. 

.....a few days later.....

The hot weather has meant progress has been frustratingly slow but I have plodded on and finally finished! ....

"Seaside Carousel" Brighton beach painting

                                             
    More paintings of Brighton "Helter Skelter", "Pier View"
                                                  "Brighton pavilion"