Category Beaches.

BLACKPOOL MILL COTTAGE.

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

This is an image of mine of the famous Blackpool Mill Cottage on the North Devon Coast. It’s a the end of a wonderful walk from Hartland Abbey, but can also be reached along the coast from Hartland Quay. This cottage has appeared in a few films such as the BBC production as Barton Cottage in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, in Rosamund Pilcher’s The Shell Seekers, and the 2016 location for The Lanyon in BBC’s The Night Manager starring Tom Hiddleston.  On warm summer days the pebble beach here is a welcome reward for the walk, there is a cool waterfall to plunge into and rockpools to explore.

A LOOK BACK AT 2021.

Al Brown Artist. 2 Comments

Well this year has been quite an ordeal both on a personal as well as a professional level. As a family we’ve experienced more tragedies than any family should, in my professional life I’ve also experienced great sadness over the year.
Due to this blasted Covid situation I’ve not exhibited due to lack of heart, purpose and commitment; finally after applying I managed to be selected for the Burton Gallery’s Christmas Show. Looking back over some of my recent compositions I can see real progress and growth, at least I now believe I’m going in the right direction with regard to painting and artistic confidence.
A highlight of the year has been walking the South West Coast Path from Ilfracombe to Combe Martin and on a warm, idyllic summer’s day managed to sketch Broadsands Beach; the finished painting is at the top of this post. Another highlight was walking the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall where I’ve managed to paint a few images of the wonderful storms and light experienced there, these have now been successfully sold.
I’ve a few projects already lined up for 2022 including a reunion of the Black Arts with an organised residential course. I’m looking towards a more abstract way of working and perhaps arranging a few solo exhibitions. Let’s hope 2022 is going to be a partial return to the way we used to live and love. Peace for you all in the next year! Al

A visit to Padstow & Rock for inspiration.

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I took an early morning walk along the quay in Padstow and it was wonderful to see the boats coming in during a quiet sunrise. Below is St Enodoc Church just a fifteen minutes walk out of Roc, the spire is actually that bent. On the way there we fed a tame robin by hand, the poet laureate Sir John Betjeman is buried here too. To get to Rock you have to take the ferry from the quay at Padstow which takes you across the River Camel giving you views out to the Doombar and down the Estuary.

We stayed two nights at The Old Custom House in the harbour and from our window had marvellous views out over Padstow and across to Rock; who needs a television or iPhones when you have such a view. It was wonderful to see Padstow without the throngs of tourists and after four at night was almost a ghost town. We ate at Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant and Paul Hainsworth’s Caffe Rojano and The Mariners at Rock, we had superb meals with friendly staff at all.

Over Buck’s Mills.

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This acrylic painting is now completed 24 x 30″. I started this composition by using an ultramarine acrylic spray to create an almost uniform blue base colour. I’ve then gradually dry brushed layer after layer to create some 3D depth to the sky. I’m now using some watered down paint to blow in the sea, waves and foreground, then using my favourite Payne’s Grey I’ve accented some depth to the pebbles. I must say I like the vapor trail of the plane on it’s way out to sea. During the pandemic the amount of flights have dropped and this has been evident in our North Devon skies.

May the wall rise up to greet you,
May the wall rise up and lift you,
Let the water elevate and heal you,
To face another day.
Dark waves will always push us back
We dive, evade, get blown off track,
Bless the water that finally heals you,
To face another day
Bless the water that finally heals you
To grace another day.



Beach Beads!

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

The autumn sun is out and I’ve just noticed the glass beads I made a few years ago!  Inspired by our local beaches!

As slow as sycamore seeds thrown from skyrise windows
Our hearts soar and fly then eventually grow
On the winds of whim we hover then fall
Cast to the dirt
Along concrete verges we flow
Away from our dreams of yesterday
Then down to realities vaults
Gone are summers where we used to play
Tears arisen from the sum of our faults


Blackchurch.

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New acrylic on 24 x 30″ canvas entitled BLACKCHURCH. This is of the famous Blackchurch Rock on Mouthmill Beach on the North Devon Coast. Below are the stepped progress photographs. A little annoying trying to capture the colours of this painting with my camera, but for once I’m very pleased with this composition.

This little Cove was recently portrayed in a film called The Guernsey Literary and Peel Pie Society which showed off much of our idyllic coastline. This cove is rather isolated and takes about thirty minutes to walk to from the hamlet of Brownsham on the Hartland Peninsula, it is here where the National Trust has a carpark. There is a lovely circular walk from the carpark and if you continue along the coast you finally reach the fishing village of Clovelly where you return back overland to the carpark. Below are a few of my photographs from the area showing the cottage used in the film.