Monthly Archives: January 2021
The Delights of Cornwall.
St Ives Harbour in Cornwall.
Hi Everybody
In 1983 we enjoyed a holiday in Crackington Haven in Cornwall. Our children were quite young then and after the sandcastles were built, the swims over, and the games played I decided to have try at a bit of sketching, – I had never tried before. 1 year later I had started painted holiday watercolours.
So here we are in 2021 nearly 38 years later and there have been many watercolours produced since 1973 and a fair few of Cornwall. If you follow this blog you will have seen many of them!
I fact I notice on my stats that over the past year there have been over 9000 views from 76 different countries around the world –Thank you for looking!
These past weeks we have also been enjoying a Rick Stein series on Cornwall on the TV and so these things have brought me to doing a post of some of my Cornwall watercolours, some old, and some new which I hope you will enjoy.
The header is one of St Ives , one of the most famous of Cornish towns, and like many parts of Cornwall a haven for artists.
Toward the most westerly parts of Cornwall is Cape Cornwall and this watercolour tries to capture the Cove and Cape Cornwall from the Kenidjack valley as a storm brews over the sea.
Storm Rising at Cape Cornwall
Not far away from there is Priest’s Cove (accessible from the Cape Cornwall Car park) where a few fishing boats still go out to sea.
Priest’s Cove near Cape Cornwall
Also on the North Cornwall coast there are many ruins of Tin and Copper mines , some right at the edge of the precipitous cliffs. Here is a watercolour painted recently of the Crown Engine houses at Botallack Mine.
Stormy seas at Bottalack Mine
You can also visit the Levant Mine and beam engine a little further north and see a working Beam Engine there. Amazing for any engineering fans!. After passing or stopping in St Ives the coast will eventually lead you to Hayle and eventually Newquay.
Further on is Bedruthan steps with great coastal views and then Padstow, a great place to have a meal or sit by the quay, as we did, and enjoy a traditional Cornish Pasty. The passenger ferry crosses to Rock but to drive round to Rock and Polzeath the road takes you via Wadebridge.
At Polzeath there is a great beach which is a favourite place for surfers due to the excellent waves coming in from the Atlantic.
Polzeath Beach, popular with surfers!
And a bit further on the coast is Port Quin and then the famous Port Isaac, well know as the setting for the TV series of Doc Martin.
Port Quin
A new impressionistic watercolour of Port Isaac, TV viewers will know it as Port Wenn.
Further up the North Coast, beyond Crackington Haven is Bude, a larger summer resort again famous for the sandy beaches, and I seem to remember very good ice cream!
Bude
Leaving the North coast behind the South Coast of Cornwall is equally appealing, with quaint fishing villages, much history and beautiful coastal scenery.
A few places that I have painted watercolours of are here now and all are well worth a visit if you are there.
St Clements is near to Truro on the River Tresillian. I was introduced to it by another blogger who produces a great Blog about Cornish History and Folklore ( Cornishbirdblog.com The Cornish Bird) and this watercolour is, with permission, from a photo from that blog.
The village of St Clements near Truro
The south coast has so many great places to visit but here is just one real favourite of ours, Mousehole, tricky to park at though!
Recent watercolour from photos of Mousehole on the Cornish Coast
Lastly for this post about my Cornwall watercolours is a view of St Michael’s Mount, where today there is the choice of ferry or a walk across the Causeway at low tide.
This watercolour tries to capture the scene as people arrive from the last evening ferry.
“Arriving on the last ferry”. St Michael’s Mount near Marazion on the South Cornwall Coast
I have only been able to give you a flavour of the “Delights of Cornwall “here but it is a great County of England to visit. In many ways it is unique and has the most stunning coastal scenery and lovely towns and villages to spend time in..
I hope you will be able to visit there and that we too will once more be able to go there again.
Happy travelling — when you can!
Stay safe and well
Brian
The joy of Pen and Wash watercolours!
San Gimignano in Tuscany from one of my sketchbooks
Hi Everybody
I love to paint watercolours, and I have always been fascinated by this medium.
Whilst I get great pleasure trying to paint big and bold watercolours I often find myself returning to where I started , using a pen and wash technique.
The sheer pleasure of the pen marks casually laid on the paper which may or may not be important later on is such fun and then applying washes of watercolour over it in a not too rigorous edgy manner is very exhilarating.
Maybe I am easily pleased but this process, which has to be pretty speedy, has been the backbone of my watercolours for many years and I hope will continue to be so.
Pen and wash can be in my sketch books, or slightly more formally on Watercolour paper, I particularly like Arches watercolour blocks which are so great for use when travelling!
Let’s hope we can travel again soon though!
So here are some older and more recent Pen and Wash watercolours which I hope you will enjoy.
These first three were painted just this week from photos of previous visits and that is often how they happen. When I can in love to sketch on the spot but that is a luxury which I can’t do at present of course.
Two scenes for Yorkshire first
Staithes on the Yorkshire Coast
The village of Robin Hood’s Bay
And now a recent painting of Mousehole in Cornall and one of the River dart in Devon
Mosehole in Cornwall
Greenway Quay on the River Dart in Devon
A few on place in Provence
In St Paul de Vence
At The heart of Vence
Fayence
Seillans
And a quick trip into Spain and Portugal
Sintra
The Hotel Courtyard in Sevilla
Sevilla Cathedral
Salamanca
An finally , for now at least, a few of both Canterbury and York
Canterbury Cathedral from Mercery Lane
York Minster from the City Wall
The Shambles in York
I hope from these you can see the reason why I enjoy Pen and Wash so much. Immediate , Colourfull and fun to do!
Stay safe and well and maybe this year we may all get to travel again.
Brian
Mountains from our Travels. – Part 1
Hi Everybody
Happy New Year to Everyone, and thanks for reading my Blog!
Let us hope that 2021 turns out better for us all than 2020. I am keeping my fingers crossed!
Alas I doesn’t seem that we will be travelling soon so some virtual travel will have to be the way forward for now.
I painted 116 watercolours during 2020 and I am not planning on stopping this trend for this year.
For many years when I was working I travelled extensively on business and went to Seattle many, many times working with Boeing of various airplanes programmes, most notably the 777. I usually stayed at Bellevue but whenever there was some free weekends I took the opportunity to travel to the coast and the islands or into the Cascade Mountains. The scenery of the Cascades is amazing but the one site that dominates all is that of Mount Rainier. Although 60 miles from Seattle it looms large and is a spectacular site even from a distance.
And so painted from some of the many photos that I took in those days ( I rarely had a sketch book with me) I have any last painted a view of Mount Rainier. This painting shows haw due to it height Mount Rainier keeps a snow covered top all year. It is possible to drive right up to 6000 feet there but this watercolour is from one of the approach roads.
Mount Rainier in the Spring. Watercolour 18 inches by 11 on Arches 300gsm paper. I hope those little people give it some scale! Mount Rainer is 14411 feet tall and is a very large and active Volcano!
We have visited many mountains over the years and way back in 2003 I painted this sketch of Table Mountain at Capetown in South Africa.
This mountain dominates Capetown even more that Mount Rainier does in Seattle but it is a very amazing site from across the bay.
Table Mountain in South Africa. Watercolour sketch.
Also near Capetown are the 12 Apostles Mountain range and here is a painting again from some years ago of these spectacular mountains above Camps Bay in the evening.
The Twelve Apostle Mountains at Camps Bay in South Africa. Watercolour 14 by 10
Even further away from the UK is New Zealand with some of the most amazing scenery we have ever
Here are just three watercolours, the first of Mount Tongaringo in the North Island and the others from the South Island.
Mount Tongagingo in New Zealand Noth island. A massive dormant Volcano. Sketch 9 inches by 8
Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain. Sketch 10 by 8 inches.
The Amazing Milford Sound at Dawn in New Zealand. Watercolour 18 inches by 12.
I hope that you have enjoyed this first part of my Mountain Travel Post. I will be adding more on Part 2
Stay safe and well
Brian
