Tiz me at the Instow Yacht Club annual RNLI exhibition. Looking like a character from The Grapes Of Wrath straight from work. Hopefully I can manage to sell at least one picture to keep me in paints and brushes, so if you live close to Instow in North Devon please come along and have a look. Lots of paintings, jewelry, ceramics & textiles. Sadly no paintings sold but managed to part with a few prints, that’s showbiz. AL
Author Al Brown Artist.
Rising Tide At Fremington Quay.
Watercolour painting of Fremington Quay in North Devon, England. A day of my first fishing trip with my son Archie aged 14. It’s safe to say that not a single creature was hurt in the making of this day. This is painted using my own prepared Bideford Black a pigment found on the North Devon Coast. This was not a drawn out affair as I’m trying to free up and freshen my work. Dimensions are 340mm x 480mm on handmade paper.
Blackpool Beach near Hartland.
An acrylic on canvas painting 750mm x 500mm. If you travel to Hartland Abbey in North Devon you can park and then walk down to Blackpool Beach it’s a pebbly beach with some wonderful formations and waterfalls. Near to the beach is a wonderful cottage which used in the films, Sense and Sensibility, The Night Manager and The Shell Seekers. I particularly liked the midday sun, shadows and tidal pool. I quite think the distance looks a little sci fi. Al
A Linhay on Braunton Marsh.
A wonderful cycle ride around the Braunton Marsh today. Autumn coming although the warmth is still there. Quite idyllic in many ways taking time to sit and watch sticklebacks in the crystal clear streams. Watching a kestrel annoy a large buzzard in the blue sky. More pictures for reference taken to paint through the incoming winter nights. Beneath is a previous painting of the same scene completed earlier this year. I think you can see nature gradually taking over again. Al
Peacock Butterfly.
Peacock butterfly on the dried fencing in my backyard. Loved the sun’s light creating such a contrast between the colours of the butterfly and the dark shadow on the weathered wood. Acrylic on canvas 900mm x 600mm. The moment I quite like in this painting is the highlighted butterfly’s antennae disappearing into shadow.
![IMG_4039[1]](https://i0.wp.com/albrownartist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/img_40391.jpg?w=293&h=219&ssl=1 "IMG_4039[1]")
Ronnie.
I’ve taken a break from producing landscapes and revisiting portraiture. This is of the iconic Ronnie Wood, ex Faces now a Rolling Stone. I quite like the tabletop and his Converse shoes. I remember being left hundreds of old Melody Maker & Disc magazines from the 60s & 70s. Always thought Ronnie and Co were stylish dressers I remember one particular picture with Ronnie wearing black & white zebra striped flares, stack shoes and a sulphur yellow blazer playing with the Faces. Painted in acrylic on canvas and dimensions are 900mm x 600mm. Original image from Getty & Google Images.
Barn on the Braunton Marsh.
A rather large attempt and painting an acrylic on canvas (700mm x 500mm). I’ve tried to paint the clear water and perhaps a few sticklebacks but not too certain whether I’ve actually captured the scene. It’s not at all ‘arty’ but rather more illustrative. The more I try to paint freely the more it becomes a rather heartless affair. I constantly struggle to achieve a freeness of stroke but usually fall back into my old ways. Anyway here it is and I’ve now become fed up with it, I just had to see it through so to speak. Perhaps a few minor tweaks but time to learn and move on….AL
The linhay on the marsh.
Finished acrylic of Hut On The Burrows 405mm x 510mm). Another painting of the hut on Braunton Burrows North Devon. Just love this place and have spent recent hours watching the sticklebacks playing in the stream, which is called the boundary drain. Still liking the cow parsley! The last picture shows another picture of the same hut I painted during the winter wit early morning dew and ice on the water.
The linhays are another interesting feature of the Marshes. They were constructed as shelters for numerous cattle and almost all of them appear to have been built by the time of the 1842 tithe map. No two barns are the same, although most are of square or rectangular shape. Some have become dilapidated but around 30 still stand today. The one which attracts the most attention is the round linhay, a grade II listed building on the edge of the inner marsh road, which has been thatched and provides endless photographic opportunities. This excerpt is by Rowland Dibble on the Explore Braunton Website which is well worth a visit.
http://www.explorebraunton.org/linhays.aspx .
Al
Cow Parsley at Watermouth.
After a visit to Watermouth Cove in North Devon this painting became. Mixed media of acrylic, watercolour pencil, pastel & pen. Along one of the shady walkways I came across a clump of cowparsley and took a quick pic on my iPhone. Love this plant it always reminds me of spring and the smell after the rain is just wonderful.
Silent Noon by Christina Rossetti
Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass, –
The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:
Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms
‘Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.
All round our nest, far as the eye can pass,
Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edge
Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge.
‘Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky: –
So this wing’d hour is dropt to us from above.
Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,
This close-companioned inarticulate hour
When twofold silence was the song of love.
The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:
Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms
‘Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.
All round our nest, far as the eye can pass,
Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edge
Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge.
‘Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky: –
So this wing’d hour is dropt to us from above.
Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,
This close-companioned inarticulate hour
When twofold silence was the song of love.
Al.
Daisies on the Tarka Trail.
Mixed media painting of daisies on a cycle route in North Devon which used to be a train track. From either side of the River Taw you get magnificent view of the estuary and wildlife. This disused rail track is now called the Tarka Trail.
Al Brown Artist. 