Painting the seaside...bit by bit....

Painting the seaside in acrylics

I have had several people asking me questions about my painting methods lately.
 Now, I'm not very good at explaining things and this is NOT a "How to do it" but rather a "How I do it" .
I thought that as I paint I could post odd bits and pieces along the way that may inspire/help someone and I'm happy to answer any questions.
Alternatively I could just waffle on...and on...and on........ 
Starting with the sea....
undiluted, System 3 acrylics. Small splodgy strokes ( no confusing art jargon here ! ) Wet on wet.
Needs to dry at least overnight before highlights can be added.

Painting in the sea...

 Pebbles...
hundreds of blobs of paint gradually increasing in size towards the foreground. When completely dry very watery washes of white highlight the sunniest areas and very watery washes of burnt sienna give depth to to the uneven surface of the beach. These are also the colours used for the deckchair frames.

Painting in the pebbles on the beach

Blanket,( and most fabrics). Lightly pencil in where the creases and folds go. Paint in the pattern. Highlight with white and add shade with a watery mix of Prussian blue + Paynes grey
 I've now completed 11 hours of painting (excluding sketching out the composition) Whilst waiting for paint to dry I have started work on other areas. The deckchair frames take the longest. They are a variety of shades/tones and need about 4-5 layers of paint...and a steady hand. I shall work on these a bit at a time.

Painting the fabrics 

 Deckchairs ....
This time just 2 coats of paint were adequate to give an even opaque base of blue (often 4-5 are required). When dry I covered the area with an extremely thin wash of white..then dabbed it off with a clean cloth . This barely shows but it helps to give a bit of texture to the fabric.

Painting the deckchair seats

 Storing surplus paint in small airtight pots will keep it usable for 2-3 weeks .

Prussian blue is used to start adding the shade on the blue areas and the fabric seam lines

Adding the fabric detail

  Most of the painting is created with very small brushes . 
Yep....takes a while with these!

Painting in progress

Starting to add some shadows and highlights whilst building up a few more layers on the deckchair frames. Work has also begun on the smaller objects. 

Adding the shadows and shading




Finally, after a long painting session and lots of cups of coffee, the composition is complete ...

"Gone Swimming"
Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"

"Gone Swimming" Acrylic seaside painting

I hope you have  enjoyed the step by step trip to the seaside and found out something useful along the way 
The sun is now shining so I'm off for an ice cream

 
 

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

Fun on the beach ......

I've decided I've had enough of the bleak Winter weather and thought I would have a bit of Sussex seaside fun.
Eastbourne is a well known retirement resort and seemed like the perfect setting for my composition. Working from several reference photos and changing the clothing I have created somerthing that I hope you will find amusing and perhaps a little typical of our British seasides .
As we get older, rounder and slower , perhaps we all still hold a childhood desire to be a Super Hero !

                            "Seaside Super Heroes" 
                              Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18" x 1.5" 

Fun seaside painting set in Eastbourne, Sussex

Then of course I couldn't leave the seaside theme without a pretty girl sunbathing on the beach ,waves crashing on the shore ensure a cooling spray to make a perfect day....

                                               "Hot Pink and Heatwave"
                                                      Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"x 1.5"

Hot Pink and Heatwave , beach painting

"Tide out and Fish tales" painting the fishing boats of Hastings, Sussex

Fishing boats on The Stade in Hastings, Sussex

I just couldn't leave the Summer behind without revisiting the wonderful fishing boats at Hastings on the East Sussex coast. They really are one of my favourite subjects to paint.
This is the second time I have painted this particular boat, the red paint work looks so colourful against the Summer sky !
I loved the way that the composition represents the end of the working day. The gloves sitting on the poles to dry, the ladder leading the way home, the nets all tidy and ready for the next day and finally the departing seagulls.
I like to think that the weary fishermen have now headed off for a good meal, a good pint and recount the stories and tales of the day .
                                             "Tide out and Fish tales"
                                     Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"

Painting the boats at Hastings, Sussex

"Sea Spray and Sun Cream" and "Seaside Shadows" Painting the girls on Brighton beach

As the Summer comes to an end I couldn't leave it without capturing the pretty girls sunbathing on the beach at Brighton.
I loved the way they just seemed to abandon everything and succumb to the last rays of the Summer sunshine.
 The waves crashing on the beach seemed to add to the over powering moment of indulgence.

                                             "Sea Spray and Sun Cream"
                                      Acrylic on canvas 24"x 16"

Painting the girls on Brighton beach

                                                 

Well as I've painted the girls with the emphasis on the sun I thought I would go the other way and concentrate on the shadows.
I was busy people watching on Brighton pier and loved the way that the shadows were cast and their silhouettes on the deck chairs.
I am working from 3 different photos so the first thing I had to do was to get the continuity of the railings right and the wooden planks of the pier, I was then able to start work on the deck chairs.

Getting the railings and woodwork in the right place .

The stripes on the chairs needed about 5 layers of paint to get opacity that I required.
 This can get a bit monotonous so to help me keep my concentration I started on the wooden chair frames.

Building up the layers on the chairs

Once the basic blocks of colour were dry I was able to flit about adding thin washes of paint. I also made a start on the shadows, these will transform the painting making it look really different

Starting to add the shadows and build up washes of colour

 .Finally the shadows are ....I hope you like it! :)
                                    "Seaside Shadows"

Seaside Shadows, painting of the girls relaxing on Brighton Pier, Sussex

              Tote bags and throw pillows are available from Redbubble  http://www.redbubble.com/people/poak/shop/throw-pillows?ref=artist_shop_product_refinement

"Seaside Shadows" Tote bags and throw pillows

 

 

 

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"

Painting the "Sussex Sea" . Birling Gap, East Sussex

Birling Gap, East Sussex

I've been watching how our stormy Winter weather has been having such a dramatic effect on our coastline. So many landmarks have been destroyed or damaged by the severe wind and rain.
The constant onslaught of the sea and it's relentless waves have been changing the shape of our beaches.
Cornwall and Devon have had the worst but here too in East Sussex we have not escaped the storms and there have been several landslides on the cliffs where in just a few seconds they crumble away into the sea.
One such place is Birling Gap on the South Downs. Since Christmas there have been two 9ft landslides, the first bringing the old cottages on the top of the cliff even closer to the edge!

The cottages at Birling Gap

I remembered when we went there on New Years Day last year. It was a beautiful day with bright sunshine that made the chalk white cliffs of the Seven Sisters almost glow! Several people were there indulging in their New Year swim , a tradition I hasten to add that you won't find me taking part in! Brrrrrrr!
Anyway, with the recent events and my memories I thought I would paint a picture of a more colourful and less destructive time. I have chosen the view from the beach looking towards the cliffs of Seaford Head.
                                                               "Sussex Sea"
                                                     Acrylic on box canvas 18"x 24" x1.5"

The view of Seaford Head from Birling Gap