A wonderful visit to Bucks Mills with my wife on a beautiful February morning. The surfers were making the most of the surf break off The Gore, a pebble ridge that leads out to sea. We could see Clovelly in the distance with the winter mist sliding down off the cliffs and after a brief chat with a local lady we discovered a lonely seal surfacing from time to time. I would love to have use of the Artist’s Cabin someday to use as a base to paint pictures here.
A stormy painting inspired by a walk back from Baggy Point in North Devon to Croyde Bay. I was quite struck by the awesome cloud formation over Croyde Beach so have made this a feature of the painting. Pleased with the way I’m going at the moment and staying far away from those fine brushes, a return to my more spontaneous work. Acrylic on gesso panel 750 x 610mm. Al
A review of one of my favourite places to visit to see some original art. There are a few new paintings and what wonderful images. My son was required to take some pictures for his college project so we found ourselves back again, perhaps our fourth time. At some point I must start to paint some of these images as large acrylics.
Acrylic on unstretched canvas 380 x 480mm. A painting inspired by a lockdown walk last week. Quite cloudy although a lot of sunshine to be had. I especially liked the play of shadows on the dunes.
A below freezing day and a trip out with my son Archie to enable him to take pictures for one of his Exeter College projects. This is my offering from the day.
A painting, acrylic on 1000 x 700mm canvas, inspired from a walk along the North Coast of Cornwall near Worwenstow, part of the Southwest Coast Path. Very difficult to get the right colours under house lighting and the overall image is much softer, with that said it is now finished. Morwenstow is certainly worth a visit and post covid will have a rather quaint tearoom to relax there too, it was recently featured in the latest series of Cornwall by Rick Stein.
An acrylic painting on 1000 x 700mm canvas just to keep my flow going during the first part of this year. This composition was going to be of a Hercules C130 transporter flying low over Crow Point at sunset, but after completion I have decided to omit it. My wife and I had been walking around the Point from Saunton Beach then decided, as it was getting late, to walk back along the boarwalk before the light went. Looking back towards the sunset the sun bleached boards were almost luminous under the ebbing light. This is my attempt at setting that scene! Al
The finished acrylic 600 x 300mm on gesso panel. A little laboured and glad it’s done I think I’ll return to canvas as the surface suits my painting style. This image is of a scene on Dartmoor although it’s actually two different locations photoshopped together to create and essence! A little like those Roger Dean album covers he did for the band Yes! Very difficult to photo the actual colours as, again, the titanium white overpowers the image.
The first out of the blocks for this year a warm up as I’ve not painted for over a month. Another Biddie Black of one of my favourite walks out to Crow Point in North Devon. New Year’s Day 2010 was very busy here with people observing the latest lockdown. I’m really surprised with this as for many years Crow Point has remained quiet, even in the summer. During the Covid Pandemic locals have reacquainted themselves with this quiet beach and now it’s busier than I have ever seen. It was lovely to bump into a few friends here that I’ve not spoken to in a long time.
Another lock down so my wife and I spent a cold afternoon walking around my favourite section of the North Devon coast, from Bull Point Lighthouse to Morte Point then back into Mortehoe. It was surprising to see so many people out but social distancing was adhered. There was a large group of teenagers at the top of the hill by Mortehoe Station gathered together without masks. The weather was quite warm with no wind, that was until we rounded the Point, then the cutting winter wind reared it’s ugly head. There were some unusual cattle roaming the hills, all black except for a band of white around their bodies. My wife named them the Oreo Cows after the biscuit. By the time we arrived back the light had gone so a slow dark drive home. The Pen & Ink drawing at the top was completed a few years ago, today’s image almost matches the original.
Al Brown Artist. 