Back to a longer-form painting following a few weeks of plein air painting and I’m going to the seaside!
Clevedon is a “classy” Victorian seaside resort in North Somerset. The “beach” is a rocky bank on the Severn Estuary. That said, it has a beautiful Victorian pier – no arcades, or Punch and Judy!
The architecture is pure Victorian and there is a large main promenade that is biased towards cars – a point of local contention!
I love a walk along here though, with little to obscure the light and the horizon, there is always something to look at…
Let’s get painting!
I always start in the distance. The sky sets the scene here – it leads the eye and generates depth in the image.
I actually love painting sky – it’s free and easy, and you can manipulate it to fit your needs far easier than pretty-much anything else.
I like the forced perspective here and the new cycle path rally does create strong lines to follow.
Some people hate the path – but as an artist, it adds something to an otherwise grey area.
Speaking of grey…
I’m going for a reasonably muted palette that will allow me to bring focus to people and objects using colour. I’m not trying for photo-realism here – but maybe a little Wes Anderson does Clevedon?
I could keep going for a long time on this painting. I could straighten up wonky lines and add details, but I think I’m almost done.
I will finish the pedestrians and add a few elements. The point you’re done with a painting is when it tells you I guess.
I am tempted to go acrylics and go for more photo realism for the next painting, but I’ll see what the paint tells me.
Think I’m done!
