REVISITING GLASTONBURY

With the passing of Glastonbury 2024 I’ve decided on choosing a familiar subject. This is my first painting in some time! There is nothing quite like standing close to the front of the Pyramid Stage when it’s on fire! I think everyone who loves music should experience once in their lifetime! Entiteled Pyramid on Fire, acrylic on canvas 30 x 20″. This picture will be available as a print too! Al

Framed in a new home!

ALMOST SPRING AT CROW POINT

First paint on canvas since October 2023, so I’m not really expecting too much at the moment but am enjoying sitting infront of the easel again. It may well take a little while to get back up to speed so we’ll see where this one goes! Acrylic on 24 x 18″ canvas.
This was a picture taken on a chilly cycle ride around the Burrows and Crow Point. In the distance is a large storm front coming in and I decided to make a dash for home. I should have stopped for a coffee at The Quay Cafe in Braunton but decided to continue onward on the Tarka Trail back to Barnstaple. As I reached Chivenor Marine Base I was caught in a massive storm with side blown hail stones, I didn’t warm up the entire day after this! Al

CROW POINT

This twenty one year old painting was hung in my old kitchen so after the kitchen was renovated this painting and its frame were cleaned and a few corrective touches made; better than before!

Through the gap in the dunes you used to be able to see this wreck of the old Sea Mack now sadly almost gone!

SANDY COVE IDEAS

Recently I’ve been spending time at Sandy Cove Beach near Lee Bay in North Devon and have decided to start a painting inspired by sketches and iPhone images obtained there. My wife and I go to this beach and hunt sea glass for the jewellery she creates then onward to spend time at The Grampus Inn. I use photoshop to create compositions, similar to traditional preparatory sketches, to inspire and familiarise myself with the subject before I start painting. The image above has obviously been photoshopped and will not be painted.

BLACKPOOL MILL BEACH

I’ve just discovered this painting from a while ago! It is of a rock pool at Blackpool Mill Beach in North Devon. This beach is at the end of an enjoyable woodland walk from the famous Hartland Abbey. Just before the beach is a wonderful old building set in grassy grounds called Blackpool Mill Cottage which featured in the BBC production of Jane Austen’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’, as the cottage in Rosamund Pilcher’s ‘The Shell Seekers’, and in 2016, the location for The Lanyon in BBC’s ‘The Night Manager’ starring Tom Hiddleston.
I particularly like the pebble beach here, it’s rock pools and picking up spectacular pieces of driftwood left behind by the Atlantic storms.

THE CORNISH COAST

Just a little look back at some of my recent paintings of Cornwall. Above is Mullion Cove a favourite place of my wife and I. Below are paintings of Kynance Cove, Lands End, Morwenstow, Bedruthen Steps and my recent painting of the Logan Rock. There is just something about the light here and many more visits are planned.

FROM THE LOGAN ROCK

Quick half an hour to commit to another painting, acrylic wash on canvas panel 515 x 330mm. The next day I completed it after about an hour of finalising the composition. I visited Treen in Cornwall quite recently to paint and sketch the wonderful rock formations but sadly there was a heavy mist! I will revisit it when the weather is right and will not only sketch the Logan Rock but also Pedn Vounder and Porthcurno Beaches.