Paint-Out at the South Slobs

We had a group paint-out at the South Slobs, Wexford yesterday (the South slobs is a low-lyiing, marshy area, frequented in winter by migratory birds and the occasional mad artist!). It was a relatively good January day, with no rain and good sunshine in the afternoon - it was only about 8C (45F) though with a cold North-Westerly wind. The area is very flat - actually looks very like Holland - and it can be difficult to find anything interesting to paint apart from the obvious. For my first one, I stuck to the "obvious", settling for the old pumphouse, mainly because I managed to get a sheltered spot. But it presented a fairly dramatic silhoutte against the winter sky.

The Pumphouse, South Slobs, Wexford
(12" x 10" Oil on Board)

I just went for a sky study for my second one.

Winter Sky, South Slob, Wexford

(12" x 10" Oil on Board)

Here are photos of both scenes. As you can see, I edited/re-arranged both scenes quite a bit.

 

A Cold Day for Plein Air Painting

A few of us braved the elements yesterday for a paint-out in Rosslare. It was only about 5C and there was a strong South East wind blowing in from the Irish Sea, which ruled out any prior thought of cliff-top locations! So we all headed down to the relatively sheltered little harbour, known as "The Safe". It was mostly cloudy, but there was an occasional burst of sunlight and I tried to capture that. So my first plein air of 2012 then:-

Winter Afternoon, The Safe, Rosslare
(12" x 10" Oil on Board)

This is a photo of the scene, taken before I started. I took the liberty of moving things around a bit for the painting.