On Friday evening Susan and I set off for a weekend break with two of our grandchildren at a cottage in Seahouses. The weather was fantastic the whole time. I was able to snatch a couple of hours painting on location at Beadnell Harbour. What made the experience of painting “plein air” even more pleasurable was seeing a shoal of dolphins feeding remarkably close to the shoreline.
I had already primed a 14″ x 10″ watercolour block with a wash of cadmium lemon before arriving to the scene which saved me a good thirty minutes of drying time. This enabled me to crash on with the sky and sea as the sun was starting to set quite quickly. Once that had dried I could knock in the boats and the harbour wall just before the sun went down. I returned the following evening to add a few more extra details to the wall and boats. This study proved to be an excellent source of inspiration for future paintings I’ve since tackled of Beadnell Harbour. The portrait format watercolour was also inspired by sketchbook watercolours painted from the harbour wall. It’s available as a limited edition print in different sizes.