Childhood Holidays at Holy Island
In the previous post I wrote about a painting project for a client. He has a holiday home on the Northumbrian coast. I’ve painted 4 new watercolours for his property which have been reproduced as limited edition prints. It’s been fun making several trips to parts of the coast which are very familiar to me to get fresh reference. I have lots of fond memories of childhood holidays to places like Bamburgh, Budle Bay, Seahouses and Beadnell. As a parent and grandparent, we regularly make trips up the coast to create happy memories for our kids too.
During the Easter Holidays, we crossed the causeway to Holy Island so that I could get reference of the boats at low tide. Unfortunately, there were just a few small boats. I still painted a couple of sketchbook watercolours to get some ideas.
Fishing Cobles
The first Sketchbook study was of two fishing cobles. They were pulled up near the huts made out the hulls of boats. I managed to squeeze in the castle in the background and painted a large cloud. This was to take your eye into the painting. I decided to use the idea of the large cloud on the finished painting.
I was aware that the safe crossing time was looming so we headed back to the car. We had given ourselves plenty of time to cross. For the first time, we decided to watch the tide cross the causeway from the safety of the mainland.
Causeway
There was more than enough time for me to do another sketchbook watercolour. This time I focused on the sunlight catching the tops of the clouds and sparkling on the incoming sea.
Back in the studio I was able to compose a scene of Holy Island. I used a combination of sketchbook watercolours and photographs of Lindisfarne castle and a yacht at low tide from an estuary.
This new original watercolour is also available as a limited edition print in several sizes starting from £65 unframed.