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Dunstanburgh Castle

by on March 20, 2011 in Painting on Location

Last summer I decided to have another video taken of me painting on location. I asked  a friend of mine, Gavin Dowd of  Word Out Productions to film me painting Dunstanburgh Castle.  I was hoping for a summer evening like the one captured in the painting which I reproduced as a limited edition print which you can see on my website. On that occasion,  the sun was setting, casting wonderful pink and orange colours onto the low passing clouds with waves crashing against the rocks. This time, the light was rather dull and flat and the tide was gently coming in.

I decided to tackle two watercolours, one in my sketchbook, the other on a 12″ x 9″ Arches Watercolour Block. To see the whole painting process, go to the Watch Alan Paint section on my website. Despite the fact that the scene was a little disappointing, it was still a worthwhile process and I’m looking forward to doing another video sometime in the spring.

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The Needles Eye, Newbiggen by the Sea

by on February 12, 2011 in Painting on Location

A few weeks ago I was asked by one of my clients to paint a specific view of the Needle’s Eye which is situated at the south part of the beach at Newbiggen by the Sea on the Northumbrian coast. He provided me with several photographs of the view he had in mind, however they were taken on a dull day and were not really suitable to paint from. In any case, I much prefer to paint on location and use my own photographs if necessary.

I went to find the spot that the client had in mind but I’d didn’t check the tides before setting off. It was high tide when I arrived, so it was not possible to paint from the view which the client had in mind. I decided to take advantage of the good weather and after exploring the area, I did a sketch book study from some rocks on the other side. I had to finish the study in my studio as waves were starting to land on my paint box!

Two days later, the weather was perfect, so after checking when low tide was, I arrived at 1:30 pm and found a suitable rock from which to paint from which gave me a great composition with foreground rocks and water. In typical fashion, I did two studies, one in my leather bound sketch book, the other on a 12″ x 9″ Arches watercolour block of rough paper.

The tide was starting to come in and the paint was taking too long to dry, so I had to finish the larger painting from the warmth of my studio, however I did manage to complete the sketch book study in situ. I showed the client the finished study and he  was delighted. I’m going to frame it to match the other paintings he has purchased from me.

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Painting on Location

by on January 6, 2011 in Painting on Location

One of the most satisfying and rewarding disciplines I do as a painter is getting up early to capture the early morning light in watercolour. Over the last couple of years I’ve been fortunate to spend a week in Norfolk over the summer with my family, following in the footsteps of some of my watercolour heros, particularly Edward Seago.
12" x 9" watercolour study of Burnham Overy Staithe

12" x 9" watercolour study of Burnham Overy Staithe

Burnham Overy Staithe is a painters paradise. The low lying land means you get the extremes of either low or high tide and of course the dramatic big skies which are always a challenge to paint. This particular scene was commenced about 6am at low tide with the sun attempting to break through the grey clouds which were scurrying across the sky.
As usual, I tackled two paintings, one in my sketch book, the other on a 12″ x 9″ Arches watercolour block of rough paper. The advantage of doing this is that whilst one is drying, you can crack on recording the ever changing scene with the other painting. One can keep alternating between the two, so the whole process is a very intense painting period. The sketch book study is always the more simple study, mainly because it is smaller, therefore one does not have as much space to fit in detail. There is no pencil work in either study as I prefer to “draw” with the brush directly on to the paper. This means you get a very expressive free brush stroke which brings a freshness to the work.
What I have ended up with is two, quite different renditions of the same scene which I hope to work up into a much larger painting at some point in the future. The photograph provides some valuable topographical information to supplement the watercolour studies. The challenge with the studio painting will be to retain the spontaneity of the location paintings.
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