Today I finished this painting of snow covering the beach on West Shore Pittenweem. My inspiration was from a visit last year on Boxing day. The path along West Shore was very icy. I loved the golden light across the water with snow covered foreground.
I liked the colours of the chairs on the deck and decided to take some down to the beach to include in a painting. It was a beautifully sunny day but quite windy, the chairs kept falling over! The contrast of the lake colours against the colours on the chairs appealed to me.
I have been at the Pittenweem Arts Festival, this was my eighth year. We were very busy, more so than last year.
I love being at the West Shore of Pittenweem. There is always something to look at, from the ever changing light to the people passing by. I especially like watching the children playing on the beach.
There were lots of favourable comments during the week and my exhibition was reviewed with others in Gavin Broom’s blog.
We had a lovely sunset one evening with the Bass Rock turning pink. And if that was not enough a rain shower made a rainbow behind the rock. Awesome!
Here is a painting I did today of my favourite beach on Islay. It was windy when I was there however very sunny and colourful.
This is a plein air study I did on a walk at Jura House Gardens. The walk took you through bluebell woods to this view of the sea. There was a bench to enjoy the view and soak up the sun. I did this painting while sitting at the bench. The water was so clear and the colour so beautiful, very inviting. I didn’t go for a swim, however by the time we got down to the shore someone was swimming in the crystal clear water.
On Saturday we went to the Isle of May sailing from Anstruther. We were in search of puffins who were out fishing at sea! There was a few on the island however which were a joy to watch. Lots of other sea birds everywhere. You need to be careful to watch for the eiders nesting very close to the footpaths. I did this study on the island buffeted by the wind. The constant movement of my board helped create some of the movement in the painting.
Auchmithie is one of my favourite places to escape to and paint outdoors. It is especially appealing when there are lots of crashing waves. The sound is just amazing as the large pebbles crash together. On Saturday the waves were wonderful. This is one of my watercolour studies I did in situ.
This is a larger studio piece. Pittenweem in the East Neuk of Fife always gives me so much inspiration for my work. There is always something happening at the harbour that makes standing to watch entertaining.
This pastel landscape was painted on Pastelmat pastel paper. The paper grips the pastel really well. It also blends nicely to give a soft effect to the painting.
This is a study I did today using mostly muted grey shades of pastels. The colours helped to capture the feeling of mood and drama I felt about the scene.