Burnham Overy Staithe

One of the greatest thrills as an artist is to have a painting trip where one can paint a variety of subjects on location. My last two trips to Norfolk have been just that. When Painting in Norfolk the subjects range from the estuary at Burnham Overy Staithe to the lavender fields at Heacham.

My preference is to paint early morning to capture the light rising. Imagine my disappointment when I arose to be greeted with a rather dull, flat mist. I still pressed on and decided to tackle the buildings and boats overlooking the estuary. The scene came to life when a lady decided to take her boat out on the right hand side of the study which provided some added interest.

Sketchbook Watercolour of Beach Huts

The beach huts are great fun to paint. An array of assorted bright colours set against a backdrop of green foliage. The dark clouds threatening rain compressed the scene, keeping the focus on the huts. As I don’t use a pencil for these kinds of studies, it was important to really think through the composition before putting brush to paper.

Wells-next-the-Sea

This harbour scene at Wells-next-the-sea was very complex. I left the cottage early to capture the sun rising over the harbour. I decided to tackle this sailing vessel berthed by the harbour wall. The boats on the right provided a sense of scale to the composition as well as some extra interest. The multiple rigging by the main masts was indicated by a few brush strokes.

Most of the lavender had been harvested by the end of July, but I managed to find a particular field looking into the afternoon sunlight. The sun was reflecting off the sea in the background and kept bursting out of the clouds. A few deft flicks with my brush whilst the watercolour paint was still wet helped to suggest the rays of sunlight.

Painting in Norfolk has been a sheer joy for me. I have another four sketchbook paintings from the same trip which I’ll show you another time.