Another new painting which is in the exhibition “An Eye to Cornwall” at The Willoughby Gallery, The Castle Bude. EX23 8LG
This painting has been totally reworked as I was not happy with the original. But some of the old painting has been allowed to show through and created wonderful scratched out lights and texture. Peek- a – blue is a bit of a pun on peek-a-boo as it was quite a grey day and just a little blue sky was peeking through.
I am painting my largest canvas to date 100cm square. It requires a large brush and lot of bravery to get the first paint down. I had an idea in mind and like to paint my underpainting loosely. This gives me a feel for it and I love what the paint does sometimes when very wet, running into other colours and creating great effects which I try to preserve leaving them to show through subsequent layers. Cobalt blue for summer skies was applied liberally. My first intention was to paint a distant seascape looking over a cornish hedge, but when dry I viewed it from different angles and a different painting completely was coming to me. I have ended up turning it upside down as lovely foamy waves started to appear. So it is going to be a large seascape with the tide running up the beach. I will leave it to your imagination at the moment as all will be revealed in due course.
The weekend has brought the most fab weather. Clear blue skies, sparkling seas and our 28th wedding anniversary!! A seafood lunch and 2 glasses of sauvignon blanc at lunchtime overlooking Summerleaze beach here in Bude ( should have taken my camera!) made for a perfect way to spend it . We have had another warmer summer-like day today, to kick start the tourist season with Easter approaching next weekend. Certainly for the past two or three years we have had our summer in the late Spring, so we are hoping this pattern is not being repeated this year! Six more months of this please!! It’s always lovely to meet new people too and Don got talking to a “gentleman of the road” – Thomas. He is a regular summer visitor to Bude and frequents the beach where he plays backgammon with the local kids and stays whatever the weather. A friend fixed his trolley last year when the wheel became wobbly and its still in one piece. He has some great stories to tell and although he chooses to live an alternative life, I hope people don’t judge him by it as he is very friendly.
There’s always a sense of relief when a commission piece is delivered and the client is pleased. I was really pleased with it and after two months of working on it, there is a huge emotional attachment to a piece of work that you have put your creative energy into. This excitement is replaced with major last minute jitters as the time for unveiling approaches. But …. thankfully it looked wonderful and they have an amazing space in which to hang it.
Doing a commission can be daunting, but after discussion about the types of style they liked and colour, I was given the freedom to paint what I liked. There is a growing trend of people wanting a piece of art to fit in with their scheme of decoration and commissioning a painting gives them this, as well as an original piece of art.
