I was recently asked if I had any paintings of St Mawes for sale. My potential customer was looking for the view of the harbour and the Ships and Castle Hotel. As I didn’t have that particular scene she asked if she could commission a painting from a photo.
I do love St Mawes, it is a stunning location, but there are a lot of buildings. The imposter syndrome kicked in again and I wasn’t sure if I could!
I had previously done a very loose sketch of St Mawes, which had been sold. My customer was delighted as it reminded her of many happy holidays in St Mawes.
The first step was to visit St Mawes and do some test sketches. Luckily the day I visited was a glorious sunny day with beautiful blue skies. Perfect sketching weather.
Tredenham Road has a couple of locations where they have wooden benches, just right to sit down and sketch. The view across the water towards the harbour and both castles is just lovely.
I choose two different places for my sketches but to be honest I was totally overwhelmed! There were just so many buildings …
My prospective client very kind sent through the photograph she had taken of this complex scene. I decided the only way I could tackle all those buildings would be to work from a grid.
Adding the grid made it more manageable and finally I felt happy to send to my client to see if it would do.
I am delighted, and more that a bit relieved, to report my client was very pleased. Even better it was an anniversary present for her parents as they honeymooned at St Mawes and they were overjoyed.
My working paintings are currently available for sale on my Etsy shop.