Painting Nature

This summer when i went to Cornwall for two weeks, I decided to take with me a moleskine sketchbook. I've never really done this before, whenever I sketch its in black and white, but the moleskine sketchbook I bought had special watercolour paper in it and I didn't want to waste this with pencil sketches. This sketching in watercolours was so so much fun and as the holiday progressed, I cared less about the finished look, but more on trying to capture the scene before me (roughly, I might add)

This first image is of a place called Coverack. Funnily enough, i forgot my watercolour paints that day (annoying!) So had to do a sketch with a blue biro and then put a wash of colour on later.

This next piece has a bit of a funny story to it. My boyfriend Andrew is very much into planes and helicopters and things of this nature because of the RNAS Culdrose base near where we were staying and where he visited alot when he was younger. Whilst we were down there they had their annual air show. The day before the show we went the the air base hoping to see fancy planes arrive. Unfortunately i don't share my boyfriends enthusiasm for things like this and got bored quick. I wanted to paint, but didn't have any water. It was raining alot, so i put my waterpot on the top of the car and waited. I got a very little amount of water to paint with. It didn't really work, so once i'd dragged a bit of paint around the page i put my sketchbook on the roof, creating this effect:

It looks a right mess as an image, but i quite like the effect the rain had on the paint on the page :)

The bad weather we had had while at the base continued the next day too, but we decided to go out anyway, and its a good job we did, it stopped raining! This is Mullion Cove. A lovely little fishing port. This painting, is the first proper panoramic type painting i've tried, stretching right across the page, and including alot of the landscape. One thing that was important to me this holiday was to get scale to my images, and this helped.

This image is quite funny too. It shows the value of patience. It was about 9 o clock at night and the light was fading fast. I didn't have time to do a sketch so had to whip out my paints and get some paint on the page. I really wanted to capture the soft pinks and muted purples of the sky and sea. It was all going really well. I got the sky and sea down nicely and then i had to sit there and wait for it to dry. At 9 o clock at night, paint doesn't dry so well, and i lost patience and attempted to paint St Michaels Mount it, resulting in this blurry mess. But i did get the sky :)

This is a little painting i did of a popular flower in Cornwall in St Michaels Mounts lovely gardens. I like my clouds here.

Coverack: I painted this the previous from the same bench i was sitting on when i painted this. I didn't like it initially, think it was dull, but i was painting it in fading light. When i saw it in the light, i actually quite liked it. I messed up the clouds however, i overworked them far too much and they just turned to mush.

Falmouth is a fishing port, so therefore i couldn't go there without painting a boat. I didn't do a sketch beforehand, feeling more confidence with sketching in watercolours by this point. The boat looks drunk, i think perhaps in this instance i should have done a sketch first. I do however like the colours i used for the water.

StIves, a place of homage and pilgrimage for artists old and young. The light inspiring many. I found it more than a little bit uninspiring. It was so crowded with tourists, any special light that St Ives possesses was being sucked up by them. Oh well, it was fun watching them have fun in the sea whilst i painted this:

Thats one annoying thing about the moleskine, although its great being able to draw and paint across a flat spine, the paint bled alot from one painting to another, doing that the the image along the spine. Perhaps i put too much water on my paper.

Following my annoyance at mucking up the clouds at Coverack i decided to do a study of cloud. So this is that, a study of clouds at St Ives. I've learnt its best to not over do them, take paint off the page, and add hints of shading, but nothing else.

This is Mullion Cove, and it appeared i didn't learn my lesson with the clouds and i buggered these up too, but i managed to get the colours i wanted so that i can do a better piece somewhere down the line.

A bit more of an illustration type image now. I attempted to draw a boat again. This time with a sketch before hand. It looks more like a bathtub that a boat, but still, i quite like it (clouds are better here too)

I liked the look of the Charlestown painting so i emulated it when painting from the beach at Glendurgan Gardens:

Kynance Cove, one of my favourite places in Cornwall, and on our last day, for the first time ever, i saw Kynance Cove in the sunshine, beautiful. (I didn't exaggerate the colours)

Well i hope that wasn't too boring. I'll have more finished painting up soon and a bit of comparing with ones i did last year too.

Take care

Nia E

I looooove Northumberland, it is one of my favourite places in the UK, and when i was there last year, i managed to do a couple of more finished paintings, and here they are:

Some random field, i was sitting in the car not wanting to get wet :)

Cragside - A National Trust property that i would looooove to live in. The interior is gorgeous with a stunning staircase and statues and grounds - uch! Trees so bloomin tall it hurts to crane your neck to see the top, beautiful walks and a lovely formal garden. I wish i had the money to make my own Cragside lol

Holy Island, or Lindisfarne. Such natural beautiful is just stunning, we spent alot of time sitting on those rocks.

Thats it really. I'm going on holiday to Cornwall next month so hopefully there will be some new ones coming home with me then. Hope you like!

Take care

Nia E