Author Al Brown Artist.

BOTTLE STOPPERS AT HELE BAY

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

It seems that a return to glass hunting on Hele Beach was in order today and although the tide was fully in we thought it possible to search the sands whilst the tide ebbed. We arrived, parked in the fee carpark and walked onto the beach, the tide was dropping quickly revealing shining wet stones and glass. It’s quite odd how searching in one direction you see no glass yet you can turn around and see everything, we believe it’s all in the angle of the reflective light and the wetness of the glass. You also have to crouch down quite close to the sand as sea glass fully reveals itself to only those who search intimately.
Today we found two bottle stoppers which are quite rare and some equally illusive blue glass. We managed to fill two small bags with our endeavours all the more with which my wife can continue to make her jewellery.

COMBESGATE BEACH

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

A quiet day at Combesgate Beach near Woolacombe in North Devon. With most of the summer visitors gone the beaches have now finally been reclaimed by the locals. We spent the day sitting in the sunshine on Barricane Beach drinking mugs of tea from the beach hut owned by the now locally famous Sri Lankan chef who supplies curries on summer evenings. In a week this curry house will be craned off the beach and stored marking the start of the approaching winter season.
Of course sea glass was found at Barricane but not so much at Combesgate around the corner although the rock formations there were outstanding. It’s on days like these, when you have the beach to yourself, you appreciate living in such a part of world.

LEE BAY

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

Well on a surprisingly sunny Sunday for October Donna and I decided to return to Lee Bay for a little more sea glass hunting. It was quite busy for this time of year but on our secret beach all was well. We spent a couple of hours strolling up and down picking sparkling sea glass out of the warm sand, so once our bags were full we decided to go to The Grampus and have some beer and cheesy chips.

GLASSY BARRICANE

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

We spent a memorable day looking for sea glass on Barricane Beach, my wife and I paddled in the warm, crystal clear water of an Autumn’s incoming tide. The Sri Lankan café was luckily still open but sadly had only a few days to go until they crane the hut off the beach; for me this marks the end of the warm summer season. Donna and I drank hot mugs of tea whilst basking in the neon bright Autumn sunshine. Most of the noisy tourists have now gone only retired couples, grandparents with children and intrepid cold water swimmers remain! Perfect!

WORKING WITH THE BLACK ARTS

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

A wonderful few days spent again as the BLACK ARTS with organised residential workshops managed by Adrian Beasley. The workshops featured tutors Adrian with digital capture, editing and printing, Stephen Raff taking clients through the early wet collodian photographic process and myself painting compositions with clients using the unique Bideford Black pigment. Our clients stayed at the Seagate Hotel in Appledore, North Devon and were taken to venues each day. I had the great pleasure of being based at the scenic Northam Visitor’s Centre beside the beach at Westward Ho pictured above.

Below are pictures of some of our clients work produced over three days involving group discussions. Each evening a different venue was chosen where we chatted informally about our day’s progress over meals at Belluno in Bideford, The Beaver in Appledore and Moran’s Restaurant in Westward Ho. On the final evening we all got together to look at the final work produced which included ‘The Big Reveal’ where everyone could see each other’s compositions. As you can see from the pictures superb work had been produced and the fabulous Indian banquet cooked by Clea, Adrian’s wife, ended the three day course superbly.

BEDRUTHAN STEPS

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

Bedruthan Steps, mixed media on 40 x 30″ deep edge canvas. I was struck by the white parallel lines of the incoming waves on this day as I sat on top of the cliffs. The name Bedruthan Steps is said to be taken from a mythological giant called Bedruthan, who used the tall rock formations on the beach as stepping stones, and seems to be a late-19th-century invention for Victorian tourists. It is now part owned by the National Trust, the beach is now closed due to cliff instability and fear of visitors becoming cut off by rapid incoming tides.

HELE BAY

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

HELE BAY painted on a canvas panel 500 x 250mm, using some pigments sourced at Fremington Quay. I am presently working on smaller scale pictures to keep my enthusiasm whilst planning larger compositions which move away from my usual landscape work. Hele is a favourite place of ours to search for seaglass and is a short pleasurable walk along the coast from Ilfracombe Harbour. There is free parking here and is a great place to sit in the sun or explore the rock pools.

PIGMENTS FROM ROCK TO BLACK

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

I’ve spent an interesting afternoon looking through the rock strata at Fremington Quay. I’ve collected Bideford Black from Greencliff at Abbotsham and used the blackish colour called Poor Man’s Coal from here at Fremington too. A renowned pigment artist called Peter Ward mentions that there are other distinct colours to collect here too, namely, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, White Clay and Grey. On inspection these pigments are quite evident here so after collecting some samples I will prepare them for future painting projects. Below is a link to an interesting article by Peter Ward.

Click to access earth-pigments-in-north-devon-a-teachers-guide-2.pdf

LESSON PREPERATIONS

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

An afternoon of running through lesson ideas in the use of Bideford Black and paint application techniques with Adrian Beasley. Adrian used assorted brushes, rags, scalpels and spattering techniques to produce these two wonderful images of the boardwalk at Crow Point. The subject is a particular favourite of mine but in a few weeks with other students other ideas and compositions will be explored with regard to Westward Ho, pebbles and beachscapes in both black and white photography and paint.