Category: Complete Paintings

I recently completed my first cat watercolour portrait of a beautiful cat called Izzy. Izzy was a very gentle, quiet cat who could be easily intimidated by the other cats that lived nearby. I wanted to paint a portrait that would capture that gentle spirit that she had as a permanent reminder now that she has gone to the big rainbow in the sky.

Whilst I have had some success in painting portraits of Dogs – or so their owners tell me! I hadn’t had that much success with cats, which is probably related to their longer fur.

First I had to choose which photograph to paint from. Did I want Izzy sat curled up on the sofa or sitting upright. Although to be honest neither were ideal I did decide on her sat up.

I purposely choose a small piece of paper so that it could fit into a frame that could either be on a surface or hang on a wall. It also didn’t help that I didn’t have all of Izzy in the photograph!

Here is the final outcome, which I am delighted to say the owner was delighted with. She was even happier to see her furniture and curtains represented in the background.

Mission over – my first cat watercolour portrait successfully completed. I hope you like it.

A few months back I had an enquiry from someone who wanted to commision a painting of Sennen, Cornwall. The client wanted a special present for her relatives. They had spent many happy years on holiday in Sennen and wanted a remainder in their home.

Finding the right photograph

I have various paintings of Sennen available to buy but she wanted one that included the Lifeguard Hut. The Lifeguard Hut although in a raised position over the vast beach, sits almost hidden amongst the dunes. She had already purchased the frame so I had dimensions to work to.

The only problem was she didn’t have a photo of the actual scene. I love Sennen and have loads of photographs but Whitesands Bay is so wide that the scene can be mostly sky! Here are some of the images I could use

Whilst I loved the first photograph above, I felt there angle wasn’t right because the dunes were too prominent. The second photograph, although covering the whole bay, was a little dark. I really liked the third photograph and decided I could use that. The turquoise colour of the sea was looking splendid in the fourth photograph but it didn’t include the hut! I did have another photograph of the same scene that did include the lifeguard hut but not the whole bay. Clearly I needed to combine them in photoshop to create the right scene.

Initial paintings

I find it quite stressful accepting an enquity to commission a painting. To take the pressure off myself I always paint more than one. This way the customer has a choice and, in fact, can say no. I really don’t want anyone to be under any obligation to buy one of my paintings.

The process always starts with an small, initial painting, just so I can get the flow of how to paint it and also choosing the right colours.

Whilst the proportions of my first attempt look a bit distorted, I liked the scene, with the vast sweep of the bay and the lifeguard hut. I was reasonably happy with my initial paintings.

Full scale painting

It was time now for me to be brave. I decided that whilst I preferred the second version of my initial painting above, the rocks didn’t look right. However I had my reference material for my commission.

The first painting turned out to be successful. I felt I had captured the sea and its different shades of blue as the surf rolls on to the beach. You may notice that I decided not to add any people! My second painting wasn’t as successful. In my reference photo there was a lot of seaweed, showing as dark blue, but it didn’t look right in the painting. I tried adjusting it to make it less obvious.

Photoshop was used to demonstrate how the painting could look inside her frame. I uploaded it to Etsy and she loved it! More importantly, so did her recipients. She sent me this message.

Thank you I took the picture to my aunt and uncle over the weekend they were so pleased, tears of joy, it was very moving. 

Natalie

At the time of writing this blog post, the other painting of Whitesands Bay, Sennen is available to purchase.

Second Commission

They loved the painting so much that they commissioned another painting of Sennen to send to their son who lives overseas. As the son was a keen surfer they asked for the lifeguard hut to reflect its historical colours and to be “more brown”.

It is interesting how different a painting can look, even from the same photograph. This painting looks more like an autumnal/winter scene, the sea is less turquoise.

If you are interested in my paintings of Sennen, take a look at the bottom of my page about Sennen, this will list what is currently available.

I do love watercolour painting, my website is testament to that, however I have been experimenting lately with Acrylic.

The downside of watercolour is that you have to “protect” the painting, if water or damp gets on the image it can be ruined (or at least altered drastically). That is why it needs to be behind a protective layer of glass, or something similar. This does “push” the price up and I have been trying to think of how to produce a range of affordable pieces of art, have a look to see my acrylic mini easels that are available to buy.

Now I do have my cards, some of which are under £5, they are all originals, but I have seen mini paintings that are little canvases sat on an easel. So I decided to have a play and see what I could produce.

Acrylic paint can be used either like oil paint or like watercolour, but once it is dry it is fixed!

I “Tested” it on my daughter, she likes my paintings but as she lives in a rented property is not allowed to put nails in the walls, this way she doesn’t have to!

Spurred on I painted another – still Godrevy (I do love that place!). I may paint more …have a look at

Poldark has returned to our screens in the UK, a firm favourite with a lot of people. I thought it would be fun to do a blog just of Poldark inspired sketches!

I have for many, many years loved painting Engine Houses as they dot the landscape around my home town of Redruth. In fact Redruth was the financial capital of the Mining area and has World Heritage status, for the role it played.

St Just area

Let’s start around the St Just area, where most of the filming of the mines was carried out. Incidentally my ancestors worked but I don’t think it was as glamourous as depicted on the TV!

The Crowns at Botallack are stunning in their own right, being perched on the edge of a cliff. These are used as the location for Francis Poldark’s mine Grambler.

other Mines

This is Chapel Porth, near St Agnes the area is used as Nampara Valley.

Then there is also Carn Calver, near Bosigran.

Holywell Bay

Holywell Bay – which has featurd briefly but I believe it was used more than once, so watch out for this stunning beach!

Bodmin Moor

Bodmin Moor, and its bleak landscape features in the programme. I believe the farmhouse that is used for the outside shots of Nampara is located here.

Nampara Beaches?

Beautiful Porthcurno beach, sometimes being used as Nampara Cove, and Demelza has been seen walking here.

However I have also noticed that Kynance Cove is also being used as Nampara Cove! This is where Demelza was out fishing when she went in labour and Poldark had to rescue her.

Gunwalloe

There there is the famous shipwreck at the end of series 1, which was filmed at Gunwalloe. However the weather was a lot worse than on the day when I visited!