Dunmore East Paint-Out

Our plein air group had a paint-out yesterday to the little fishing village of Dunmore East. It was one of those days which could easily have been a wash-out, but things worked out great thankfully. It was raining in the morning, but had stopped by the time I got there. It was still overcast though and remained so long enough for me to finish my first painting. The sun came out in the afternoon and it looked like a summer day for about two hours (time to complete a second painting) before a cold damp sea fog enveloped everything. So it was really great, with consistent light for about an hour and a half for each painting. Both paintings are 14" x 18" oil on canvas.

This is the first one. I liked the inter-weaving shapes of the distant headland and the foreground rocks ( I compressed everything horizontally to enhance the effect). I also liked the solidity of the nearest cliff-face against the relatively lighter values of the sky and sea.

This is a photo of the scene:-

I painted this afternoon one from pretty much the same spot, but just facing in a different direction. I love painting "contre jour" and this view proved irrestible:-

This is a photo of the scene:-

Some Signs of Spring

There are indeed some signs of spring at last after a very severe and long winter. I just headed up to the woods near my home yesterday morning and painted this one in beautiful sunshine. It was cold though - just a little above freezing.

Spring Sunlight, Forth Mountain
(14" x 18" Oil on Canvas)

This was my initial block-in:-

And after about another twenty minutes or so:-

And here is a photo of the scene taken before I started:-

Bright Spring Day at Baginbun Head

We have some lovely spring weather at the moment and when the overnight frost clears the days are quite sunny and pleasant. The humidity is also extremely low, which makes for some great light. I decided to try painting at the seaside, expecting to see some vivid colour, and I wasn't disappointed.

I started painting at 11-00 am, but within a few minutes, it clouded over. Frustratingly, the patch of cloud took almost an hour to clear, but I waited and finished the painting when the sun came out again. Here is the block-in, the finished painting and a photo of the scene:-

I did another one in the afternoon, by which time the sea had this extraordinary turquoise colour. Here is the finished painting and a photo of the scene (I forgot to take a photo of the block-in):-

Both paintings are 14" x 18" oil on canvas, a little larger than my usual plein airs. Strangely, it didn't take any longer than usual. Expect larger to come!