Beside the sea

Hello,
Today I decided two more paintings were finished, so I thought it would be good to blog about them.

The first is a painting of a rocky cove which I passed on a walk up to Baggy Point near Croyde Bay in North Devon. The coastal path belongs to the National Trust and has stunning views. The rocks had jagged, sharp edges, so for the first time in years, I used a palette knife to help get the right effect. I hope to paint some more coastal scenes in future, and improve.

Photo used for the painting

Rocky cove, Croyde Bay (1)

Rocky cove, Croyde Bay (2)

Rocky cove, Croyde Bay 2011 (20cmx20cm)

The second painting I completed this weekend was of a crab and shrimp on a white plate. I had intended to paint an uncooked crab but the fishmonger only had cooked crab, but I was quite pleased about this when I came to do the picture because the orange/red hues of the shell made it interesting material to work from. Compositionally, those colours worked well with the blues of the big plant pot in the background. I took quite a few photos of the crab so plan to paint another version soon.

Charcoal sketch of crab & prawns

Crab and shrimp (1)

Crab and shrimp (2)

Crab and shrimp (3)

Crab and shrimp (30cmx30cm)

In readiness for the open art market in Maidenhead I'm taking part in on 3rd December, I'm getting some giclee prints done of three paintings – mainly because I don't want to part with the originals. The prints will be of the following paintings: Pigs in mud; Mackerel head and tails; and Seascape, Croyde Bay. And here they are below:

Pigs in mud. Oil on board

Seascape, Croyde Bay

Mackerel head and tails

I've sent them off to Redcliffe Imaging Ltd in Bristol as I was so pleased with the giclee prints they produced of my painting 'Cows in Dorset'. So fingers crossed these ones come out well too.

For any fans of Lucian Freud, I can recommend a book by Martin Gayford who sat (for many months) for a portrait by LF. The book is titled, Man with a Blue Scarf, and offers an insight into how Freud worked and his relationship with his sitters. It contains a lot of pictures of his other works as well - always a bonus.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to offer feedback on any of the paintings.

Karen