Author: Jane

We enjoyed a lovely April which means I was able to paint some cornish coast sketches. The lovely places I visited and sketched was Hayle Estuary, Godrevy and Gunwalloe Fishing Cove.

Hayle sketch

I now have a bus pass and it was my best friends birthday so we caught the bus to Hayle and went to Gilbert’s. Gilbert’s is a lovely beach cafe at North Quay, overlooking Hayle Estuary, with Lelant Church in the background. I love this spot, especially with the added bonus of watching the trains go to and from St Ives. It was a glorious day and children were playing in the shallow water by the “lagoon” area. Hayle Estuary can be a particularly dangerous spot in the water, but the lagoon is an area that fills up with water at high tide. One of my favourite spots to swim and I couldn’t resist getting in the water after lunch.

My sketch of this part of the cornish coast shows the children playing in the water. It is definitely one of my favourites and I have already cut it up and made it into a 6 x 6 card. This will be available for sale at St Just Arts and Crafts Fair being held the first two weeks in August.

Godrevy sketch

My daughter was home so a visit to Godrevy is always a must. We had walked along the coast path, past the Seals and towards Hells Mouth. We then relaxed by the car, luckily having nabbed a front row parking spot! Ate our picnic lunch and enjoyed looking at the sea.

My sketch is looking towards Gwithian. I am not sure whether this one will end up as a card or a gift tag.

Gunwalloe Fishing Cove sketch

Another lovely walk is from Gunwalloe along the coastal path to Fishing Cove. We stopped for a while before heading up to The Halzephron Inn for a lovely lunch. I didn’t swim at Fishing Cove, because although it looked lovely it is very dangerous.

My sketch is of the surf rolling on to the sea. An abstract view, which I will probably keep for a Valentines Card 2026! I am planning ahead.

I have recently returned from a lovely holiday in Scotland, and here are my sketches from my Scotland Tour.

We were touring around and we flew to Scotland from Newquay Airport, very handy! Our tour started in Edinburgh for one night. So here is the obligatory Edinburgh Castle!

Fort William

Next stop on our tour was Fort William. We caught the train via Glasgow, the scenery from the train is great but a very slow train! Sadly the weather in Fort William was not as lovely as it was in Cornwall but still beautiful.

Click on the smaller images to see them larger and with a caption.

It was quite damp at Fort William so I sketched Loch Linnhe from our flat window.

We caught the local bus to the Glenfinnan, such a peaceful area to explore. I experimented with my sketch of Loch Shiel, painted quickly and without pen this time, as I was trying to catch the moody grey clouds.

We walked to the Viaduct, which is stunning. Whilst stood waiting for the steam train to pass over I got my paints out for a quick sketch of the viaduct. It was quite difficult stood up juggling paints, brushes and water!

Skye

From Fort William we visited Skye. We travelled via train from Fort William to Mallaig – the scenery was stunning. From Mallaig we got the ferry over to Skye, where we needed to get a taxi to Portree as there is a limited bus service. This was a mistake on my part as I thought we could get a bus! However the taxi took was great and we included a little tour of Skye and were able to stop at various view points.

We had a lovely little bunglow that overlooked Loch Portree, which was tidal and it was so relaxing to sit and watch the tide come in.

Click on any of the photos to see a larger version and caption.

We start with the view from our bungalow, across Loch Portree, with hills and mountains in the background. It was very peaceful and quite lovely .

We walked the Scorrybreac trail, and whilst resting up the steep path up the hill I got my paints out. This view is looking over the fields towards a salmon fish farm, with Raasay in the background.

This time I was trying to get a different view of harbour, and its coloured buildings, set further back across the water.

We got the local bus around the Trotternish peninsula and stopped at Uig. We found the path to the Rha waterfall at Uig. Again I was standing up to paint.

Inverness

Next stop was Inverness. We caught the bus from Portree to Kyle of Lochhalsh, were we got on another scenic train. It was a damp day however the scenery passing the lochs and mountains as we slowly made our way to Inverness was lovely. We also booked a day trip to the highlands, as well as visiting Eilean Donan Castle using Rabbies Tours, which I can highly recommend.

The first sketch is of Applecross Bay. I wish I had painted the scene with a house and buildings in the background as, on reflection, I feel it needed a focal point.

Next stop the iconic Eilean Donan Castle. It was late afternoon and quite dark with the sun behind the castle and I struggled to get a lot of detail. It was also low tide so I didn’t have a lot of water for the reflection.

Our last day in Inverness was a beautiful sunny day so we walked along the River Ness and around the Ness Islands. There are pedestrian bridges to give you access to the Islands – these islands are a tranquil paradise. Another fast sketch as I try to capture a Fisherman on the River Ness.

Pitlochry

We went from Inverness to two nights in Pitlochry. This was quite a different landscape, very genteel but still with the mountains in the background. The sun shone on our two days here, which makes everything look beautiful and is a lot easier to find somewhere to sketch.

To be honest I do struggle with trees and these are not my best, especially Sketch 3, where I was trying to capture the beautiful reflections in the still water of the surrounding trees.

The first Sketch is of a canoeist on Loch Faskally, not sure I caught included enough reflections!

The boating station on Loch Faskally was a great spot to sit, have a coffee, relax and get my paints out.

Sketch 3 : Loch Faskally with mountains and trees in the background – see my comments above!

Newcastle

Last stop on our tour saw us leaving Scotland, by train on the scenic route along the Northumberland coastline to Newcastle. Just two nights and extremely different landscape! In my sketches I have tried to capture the difference of the city to the quayside with all the bridges. Newcastle certainly has beautiful architecture

Newcastle has some great seating areas and first stop was in the city centre and Grey’s Monument.

Lastly a sketch of the Tyne Bridges – this was hard but I wanted to capture the feeling of all these bridges, all with their own personality

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and seeing my sketches from my Scotland Tour, it certainly was a great holiday.

It is always a treat when spring slowly emerges to get out and about and walk along our glorious cornish coast. Even better if I can sit down and get my paints out and sketch the scene! This was the case when we visited Padstow recently. The weather was beautiful, I found an old pallet on the beach and sat and did a sketch from Tregirls Beach. Well actually I did two sketches it was so lovely in the sunshine!

I had walked along the coastal path and we opted to stay on the path rather than climb over the dunes to the beach. It was surprisingly muddy in places and has quite a marshy area near to the entrance to the beach. As mentioned I found an old pallet to sit on, where I enjoyed a small picnic.

It is so good to be out in the sunshine and sketching again. What a lovely day. I may turn these sketches into Watercolours cards. Check out what other Cards I currently have for sale.

I have drastically reduced the amount of sketches that I have done during 2024. Although I always take out my little sketch book kit, not the full kit that I take when painting on holiday!

The main reason for the lack of sketches is a loss of confidence or lack of enjoyment. I have found it very hard to adjust to a new looser style since I had my macular hole diagnosed. This results in loosing my middle vision, which is the part of your vision that allows you to see details. You can read more about it in my blog from January 2023 all about my eye surgery.

However I did get my paints out on three different occasions. Here are my efforts.

Seascape – looser style

On this occasion I decided to really test out painting in a looser, more abstract way.

We parked the car at The National Trust Car Park at Gunwalloe and followed the coast path to Pedngwinian Point. Arriving at Fishing Cove / Gunwalloe Beach we just sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet on this lovely beach. We walked continued our walk for a short time, returning via the coast path to revisit the beach. I decided to get my paints out and experiment with capturing the scene.

Click on the image to see it larger.

I am not sure how successful it was. Sadly I didn’t have my wax candle, which I usually like to use for shallow water. It captures the reflection of the clear water on the sand. Luckily I had my masking fluid, although I was a bit heavy handed using it! Anyway I did enjoy painting it, but perhaps it is too abstract – we shall see.

St Michael’s Mount

We haven’t had the best summer but luckily I did manage to visit Marazion on a sunny Tuesday. We were having a coffee in The Goldolphin overlooking St Michael’s Mount enjoying the view. I decided I needed to get my paints out.

The tide was just going out and people were walking over to The Mount. I was with my Aunt and Husband and they felt I needed to include Chapel Rock to give it context. Still fairly loose but I included more detail than the seascape above. I just had to be aware to get the depth of field right by reducing the vividness of The Mount. I have included a photograph of our view. However you can see my Aunt in her stripey top, reflected in the glass balastrade!

Poldhu Cove

Another rare sunny day, with the water fairly calm and beautifully clear. I had been in the sea to enjoy a swim and sat enjoying a coffee at Poldhu Cafe. The decision I always need to make when sketching Poldhu is how much to include! Especially as it has towering cliffs either side.

I decided to focus on the cliffs on the right hand side, and included the lifeguard flag and stick people in the water for context. Out of the three sketches I like this one the best. I think it will definitely make a nice card to sell.

If you are interested in buying any of these paintings they may be for sale the Watercolour Card section of my Shop. However being originals and, once they are gone, they are gone!

I have recently been on a short 10 day tour of northern Europe – Germany, Holland and Belgium. Here are my sketches from Amsterdam and Belgium starting with our first stop Cologne in Germany.

Germany sketches

Newquay Airport has increased the number of places it flies to and from during the summer so we flew from Newquay to Dusseldorf Airport with Eurowings. There is a big travel market for visitors from Germany wishing to visit Cornwall to visit the beautiful Cornish locations featured in Rosamunde Pilcher novels. It was then a short train journey from Dusseldorf to Cologne for our 2 night stay. Click on any of the images to see larger versions.

The first sketch is of the Hohenzollern Bridge, a railway bridge consisting of 3 large iron truss arches. You can see the Cathedral in the background. The second is a bar in the Heumarkt, a cobbled plaza filled with bars and coffee shops. A great place to watch to world go by. We were sat in a cafe opposite enjoying a refreshing cup of tea and cake! The last sketch was of the inside of Cologne railway station. It seems that German trains don’t run as efficiently as I thought they might! Our train to take us from Cologne to Amsterdam was well over an hour late, so to distract me from waiting I got my sketch book out to capture the 4711 advertisement that at the end.

Amsterdam sketches

We did eventually arrive in Amsterdam, our home for the next 5 days. We had a lovely studio flat in the Museum Quarter. It was very hot in Cologne and the heat didn’t disappear when we got to Amsterdam, although we experienced frequent heavy showers.

My first sketch is a very typical Amsterdam scene of a bridge over a canal, with the bicycles all lined up. I found the tall houses, bicycles and canals quite overwhelming, it was a job to decide what to paint! My second sketch was of the windmills at Zaanse Schans. Zaanse Schans is now a heritage site with open access, and as well as seeing the windmills, it also has green wooden houses, handicraft shops and industries. It was very pretty and well worth a visit. You can visit Amsterdam Noord by a free ferry ride from the main train station. It was interesting to walk around this area as it was a contrast to the main city. The last sketch is of Paard van Marken, a lighthouse on the Dutch peninsula Marken, on the IJsselmeer. We caught the local bus to the “island” of Marken and walked out to the lighthouse. I particularly loved Marken, although it used to be an isolated island, it is now connected with the mainland by a dike. Catching the bus and visiting this island gave me a good insight into the dike system that is used in the Netherlands.

Belgium sketches

From Amsterdam we caught the train to Antwerp for a 2 night stop – well worth a visit. There is a beautiful historic centre and less touristy than Amsterdam. Although there were a few stag dos, probably attracted by the strength of the Belgium beer. From Antwerp we travelled to Bruges for another 2 night stop. Bruges, with its canals, cobbled streets and medieval buildings, is very pretty but also very touristy.

You can walk under the River Scheldt using a pedestrian tunnel with an authentic wooden escalators. They took me back to when I lived in London nearly 40 years ago! My first sketch is of the view across to the Antwerp city skyline. My second sketch was of the Grote Markt in Bruges. This is a very large Market Square with so much going on. I was particularly attracted to the gabled buildings, with its many cafes and restaurants below. Lastly I attempted to capture one of the many beautiful canals. I was attracted to this scene because of the reflection in the water of the buildings and large tree that overhung the water. I am not sure how successful I was though!

Back home

We came home via Brussels and Eurostar, a great way to travel. The trip was pretty full on, as we tried to see as much as we can. I haven’t done as much as painting as I used to do whilst away, as I still adjust to my eyesight difficulties, but I did enjoy it. I hope you have enjoyed looking at them.

Thanks for reading.