On Monday I sold one of my original watercolours painted on location of a beach scene. It was a timely reminder of how much I do enjoy painting “plein air”. I have fun capturing the natural elements of sky, sea and land. Longsands Beach, Tynemouth provides great subject matter to paint on the spot.
Monday the 3rd September 2012 was a glorious day. We decided to spend the day at Longsands Beach at Tynemouth with the family. Inspired by the earlier sale of the beach scene, I decided to take my watercolours and made a couple of sketchbook studies of folk enjoying the weather which I may well work up into larger paintings.
Over the years I’ve built up a rich collection of sketchbook watercolours that I can refer to when working in my studio. Scenes like the beach at Balevullin or Seaton Sluice have indeed been painted in to larger works. The sketchbook watercolour of Seaton Sluice became a 14″ x 10″ painting. I actually made a video of some of the painting process which you can watch on YouTube. Even though I supplement the sketchbook study with photographs, it’s important to retain the freshness of the “en plein air” study.