NewYear 2019

Its good to put Christmas behind and to think ahead to the New Year.  I began 2019 with two paintings of buildings – the Pilot Inn at Eastbourne and the Quaker Meeting House at Bridport.  For both these images I used Google Streetview as the source for reference photographs and as I did this I realised that I could do a street scene of virtually anywhere in the world thanks for Streetview.  For someone who’s travel options are rather limited due to disability in the family this is a great option.

Anyway, here is the Pilot Inn – always a nice pub to call in on and located just a few minutes from the cliff tops and the sea.

I have been involved with Quakers for many years now and although I have had a long break from actually attending a meeting, I have been to my local Quaker Meeting a couple of times in the last few weeks.   Quakers have been meeting together since the 17th century, when George Fox, their founder toured the country gaining converts.  It has changed greatly since his day and is now part of the established religious scene in Britain – although a very small part with most meetings being fewer than 20 members.

Here is the Quaker Meeting House in Bridport, Dorset.

Quaker Meeting Houses are usually quite ancient buildings and painting the Bridport one has made me think that perhaps I’ll do a few more.

More Moleskine watercolour sketchbook work

It is unusual for this time of year in England to get such a prolonged patch of dry sunny weather.  Its been a delight to keep going out with my sketching equipment and to spend an hour or so sitting outside drawing the lovely views around East Sussex.

Here is St Mary's church at a tiny village called Tarring Neville, nestled into a fold in the South Downs (a range of hills on the South Coast of England)

And then another one painted on a gap in the hills overlooking the sea at Birling Gap

I painted this first one on the cliff-tops at Eastbourne, our nearest large town.  At first I find myself a little embarrassed to be sketching alone perched on a my tripod seat but within no time at all I am so absorbed by the drawing that I don't notice anyone passing by.

Finally, here's one from the church at Bishopstone village, about a couple of miles from home.

Sketching from the car

I'm trying to learn how to draw from the car, but am having great difficulty finding suitable locations. When you park the car you're looking straight up the road rather than facing a view to left of right. So, its a matter of parking somewhere where you park "chevron style" or at right angles to the kerb or even better where you're parked off road - not easy in a congested part of the world like the South East of England.

The other day I took the car down to the seafront and managed to get a space facing a rather elegant block of apartments called Corsica Hall. This building dates back to 1783 and has been a private home, a convalescent home, a college and an adult education centre. Anyway, it makes for a lovely buiding to paint and I was able to use my new "Buff Titanium" paint by Daniel Smith which is ideal for this sort of building. I am very committed to Winsor and Newton artists quality paints but sometimes a new discovery from a different manufacturer is fun to try out. I drew the building first in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook and finished painting it at home.

Corsica Hall

I then turned the car around and faced the other way where I had an excellent view of the old Martello Tower, one of many forts built as coastal defences during the French Revolutionary Wars in the early 19th century.

Seaford Martello

I've painted this before from the other side and have included my earier picture below as illustration.

I love the Moleskine watercolour sketchbook but I do find that the paper doesn't take washes all that well.  Despite this, you can get some interesting skies so long as you're prepared to tolerate and element of serendipity in your work.

For anyone who's interested in the location of these images here is a map - if you click on it it will take you to Google Maps.

I'm loving the blogger blog. I was on Wordpress for years but have abandoned it due to the cost - and I'd lost interest in the content - hundreds of book reviews.  Nice to start again with an art blog, seeing as I paint and draw every week.