Category: Painting on Location

We have visited Vienna on two different occasions and the buildings were so magnificent, so grand and they are hard to grasp that in a tiny little sketch! On this occasion it was mid March and it was freezing cold, so it wasn’t easy to find the right spot to sit down to sketch, but that could be me making excuses! I was in two minds about whether I should post them or not, I don’t think they are my best work – anyway here they are …

The painting at the top shows my first attempt of the Schonbrunn Palace painted from the Gloriette, but I have got the proportions wrong.

Then I tried a closer sketches, there weren’t any seats in the middle, so this is from the side

Then I decided to focus on one of the many statues they had in the garden, plus by this time the gardeners had planted a few Pansies, which added some colour. But I still haven’t done this beautiful Palace justice.

We then visited Stadt Park and I was struck by the Kursalon, a place where Johann Strauss conducted Orchestra’s, and nowadays they hold concerts every day with a selection of his music. There is so much detail in their architecture, and again proportions are wrong.

It rained one day, so painting was definitely out that day, and the following day it was very cold, but I did manage to find a little spot at the Orangery at Belvedere Palace. This I feel was my most successful.

One of my daughters lives in the Southampton we have visited the area of many occasions but hadn’t really been down to the waterfront. On this particular visited we decided it was time to remedy that, of course I took my paints with me, this is my selection of Southampton Sketches.

It was beautifully peacefully walking through Manor Farm Country Park, in the upper reaches of the river Hamble but being early in the season there weren’t many boats about.

Weather wise it was a funny old day, warm when the sun was out but cold when the clouds came over, and as you can see from this painting dark clouds were gathering over Botley.

Bursledon

The following day we walked towards Bursledon, not quite as peaceful as the M27 runs overhead, but they’re more boats! Quite a lot were moored up at the boatyard with some owners busy preparing them for the upcoming season’s sailing.

Walking back towards Hedge End there was a very high spring tide and the ground was quite boggy, it turns out it this area is a salt marsh. It was very pretty, but there was a cold wind, so this was painted quite quickly!

Southampton Water

The following day we did something a bit different and changed our usual mode of transport travelling back to Cornwall via boat! We did a mini cruise. It was quite an experience and it turns out I am not a good sailor! But the best bit was sailing through Southampton Water where I attempted to capture Royal Victoria Country Park but of course it was moving rapidly away from me!

Sketches from a later visit

On another occasion we visited during the summer when the weather was a lot warmer!

Our daughter has now moved and we there is a lovely riverside walk along River Itchen. On this sunny day, it was very busy, children were playing in the river, families were out walking along and you could even find a shady spot under the trees.

In my eagerness to visit a local beach we visited Lee on Solent. It was actually surprisingly close and didn’t take long in the car. The beach is quite different from Cornwall but it was lovely to see all the boats out on the water.

Warsash

Another place we visited is Warsash. I don’t know what this place is like in the summer, very busy I should imagine, but on a sunny March day it was lovely. Warsash is opposite Hamble-le-Rice on the River Hamble as it meets Southampton Water.

We walked along the Solent Way, with its views across to Hamble village towards Southampton Water. This is a very peaceful spot and I can imagine in the summer the water is full of people enjoying sailing on the water.

I stopped to capture the scene, although I feel I am being a little unfair – whilst it is a shingle beach it probably isn’t as brown as I have depicted. The sun was glinting on the water and that was enough to detract from the Oil Terminals that we were looking at! It is interesting to see different waterscapes, it is such a different landscape to Cornwall.

This sketch is looking across Hook Spit, a special area for wildlife and birds, looking across towards Hamble.

My latest blog features Falmouth sketches, painted a few weekends ago we had glorious weather in Cornwall and I was lucky enough to get out and not only enjoy the sunshin

We were at Castle Beach at Falmouth – the sun was sparkling on the sea, the tide was high, people we re out sailing,  children were laughing and playing on the beach – a beautiful summers day. To make it complete I got my sketching equipment out and did three little sketches.

This was my first, looking across Castle Beach towards Swanpool and the opening of the Helford River which was busy with lots of boats out on the water.

This sketch is looking towards Pendennis Point, you can just about see the Castle hidden amongst the trees.

On this little sketch, I tried to capture the magic of the boats on the sparkling sea, but not sure how well it worked (I was working from quite a distance)!

Today I moved away from my usual cool palette and used a lot of Cobalt Blue, as shown in the sketch below, because the sky and sea were such a rich colour.

This sketch was from painted whilst sat on Gyllyngvase beach, it was on a cartridge paper sketch book, hence the lack of texture and simple lines, as the paint doesn’t blend as well.

I hope you enjoying looking at my sketches of Falmouth, as much as I enjoyed my lovely day at the beach.

We have just enjoyed a superb holiday in an area of Cornwall – the Rame Peninsula. The Rame Peninsula is sometimes called “The Forgotten part of Cornwall’. I have certainly not forgotten in and here are my sketches from Whitsand Bay.

Tregonhawke Cliff

We stayed in a tiny chalet on Tregonhawke Cliff. Wow what a view! We arrived on a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon. It was a trek from the car park to the Chalet – and with no shops or anywhere to eat in the evening, nearby – we had a lot of stuff! However the view made it all worthwhile as could look from Looe right around Whitsand Bay to Rame Head.

Sadly Saturday turned out to be rather cloudy. The rest of the week turned out to be very wet but that didn’t bother us as we had a first class view from our Chalet, called Seagull’s Nest. The chalet was equipped with so much stuff, including picnic bags and blankets, china tea service and a choice of coffee pots! The view around Whitsand Bay could be seen from the main bedroom, as well as the lounge/dining room area.

We did venture down the path to the beach at Tregonhawke, the walk is not for the faint hearted – it was very tricky in places and even harder to climb back up. A lively beach with lots of activities for the children.

St Germans

Tuesday morning turned out sunny so we ventured out in the car to explore. First stop was St Germans. If you have ever travelled to Plymouth St Germans has the most amazing viaduct and you can look down at this little village. It has been on my list of places to visit for a very long time and I wasn’t disappointed. I even had time to sketch and capture the scene.

Portwrinkle

After St Germans we were lucky enough to find a parking spot at Porthwrinkle so we could explore here. The Harbour was very nice but the sun was still shining and it was lovely to sit and sketch the scene.

Mount Edgcumbe Park

Thursday was another sunny morning, so this time we decided to get the local bus and visit Cremyll. Going via Kingsand, Cawsand and Millbrook, included a lot of windy, narrow roads but we were able to sit and enjoy the views. We had a good walk around Mount Edgcumbe before stopping for lunch at The Edgcumbe Arms, where I got my paints out to sketch the Royal William Yard across the water at Plymouth.

A lovely enjoyable holiday and I hope you enjoyed my sketches from Whitsand Bay. It was so peaceful and I can highly recommend it to anyone looking for peace and quiet in a stunning location.

The weather hasn’t been brilliant lately however on a glorious sunny day we decided to make the most of sunshine and go to the Roseland Peninsula, where I did some painting at Portscatho.

I had never visited Portscatho and it is a beautiful, quiet, little fishing village, where people where swimming, fishing and out on their boats. It was glorious.

We walked along the coastal footpath and found a lovely spot to sit and eat our pasty’s and of course my paints had to come out!

Going back via Portscatho, we then headed onto Porthcurnick beach, which was jam packed with families making the most of the sunshine. We didn’t venture onto the beach itself but I did do this little sketch.