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.
Shadows over Crow.
Category Beaches.
Instow Industrial.
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.
Morwenstow to the sea.
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.
Over The Boardwalk.
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
To The Point.
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.
Baggy Point in North Devon.
A few pictures of mine inspired by Baggy Point in North Devon. I’ve shopped some Hercules Transporters in the first and a Spitfire in the second. In the distance you can see Croyde Beach famous for its surf. I’ve climbed Baggy Point many times over the years with one of the climbs oddly titled Kinky Boots as seen in the picture below!
I’ve recently taken a few weeks out of my painting schedule to have a break and gain fresh inspiration. I’ve been fighting with my usual illustrative techniques and have been attempting to find new directions, sadly to no avail. I hope in the New Year to start with fresh optimism and enthusiasm. See you in 2021. Al
The Lighthouse at Crow Point.
I discovered an old postcard image online from North Devon’s Athenaeum of the old lighthouse at Crow Point in North Devon. This building is no longer here but I’ve tidied up the image and photoshopped it onto one of my pictures of Crow Point taken earlier this year.
On the Explore Braunton website there is a great account of the history of this long lost lighthouse http://www.explorebraunton.org/memories-of-braunton-lighthouse.aspx it states, ‘Sadly the keepers were withdrawn from the lighthouse in 1945 when the tower and dwellings became unstable. The light became redundant in 1957 and both the high and low light were demolished. All that is visible today are some remains of the main lighthouse. A modern navigational light is now situated about half a mile to the south of the original site, which is operated by Trinity House.’
Below is a few images I’ve discovered on the internet I’ve also photoshopped a Spitfire on one just for good measure! Al
By Phillis Bray 
My photoshop of a scene perhaps during WW2
Westward Ho!
Spent a rather enjoyable walk along the beach at Westward Ho in North Devon and met up with some old friends and caught up on old times. Similar to many years ago when I painted the watercolour below of the same friends when we had our children with us!
Woody Bay.
A completed painting 900 x 600mm acrylic on canvas. Woody Bay in North Devon. I’m trying to create an atmosphere of shadowy warmth created by the oak covered cliffs around this beach. Al
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/heddon-valley/features/woody-bays-victorian-heritage
Fisherman’s Huts at Crow.
I was taken by an image, on Facebook, of a couple of old fisherman’s huts at Crow Point in North Devon and decided to sketch them in leu of a painting. I made my way to the White House at Crow and walked left along the thorn ridden breakwater; this is now the only way to get to these huts as part of the inner wall has collapsed. I arrived and marvelled at their rustic charm, rusty orange corrugated iron, weather bleached wooden doors and crude cobbles which remained from years ago.
Quickly I took a series of photographs and made a few reference sketches eventually the dark clouds forebode and soon it began to rain. Luckily one of the huts wasn’t locked and I weathered out the storm in it’s solitude loving that sound of rain on iron.
The smells of the estuary mud and seawater filled the air as I made my way back slipping on the mud and pebbles. Perhaps a painting to come? Al
Al Brown Artist. 