Tag South West Coast Path

Fishermen’s Huts at Crow.

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

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.
After a little photoshopping, which I use for preliminary planning, I came up with this composition of the old huts.  It’s often quite difficult to photograph paintings and the true colours and softness of the paint are missed, but on the whole I quite like this painting! These huts are placed at the crook of Horsey Island on the Braunton Marsh just where the River Caen (Braunton Canal) meets the River Taw. In the painting you can see The Taw in the background. Recently the inner tide Sea defences have failed and now Horsey Island has returned to the brackish muds of the Estuary.

600 x 600mm acrylic on gesso panel. Al

Evening Primrose at Crow.

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

I attended an interesting walk and talk arranged by the Braunton Countryside Centre about the Second World War and the Burrows. I sketched a quick picture of the waterside as I’ve never seen so many Evening Primrose plants in flower. Quite an unusual light this morning quite humid, it reminded me of that Monsoon type light. I was amazed at the amount of Evening Primrose in bloom, the flowers looked even brighter against the dark sky.
This morning there was an enjoyable walk arranged by the Braunton Countryside Center it was about the Burrows and it’s World War Two usage for the D Day Landings. Many Americans were trained here for beach assault the person who lead the walk and talk was by Richard Bass a WW2 Historian from the Assault Training Centre Friends. If you can get onto one of these walks it’s well worth the effort. Al

https://assaulttrainingcenterfriends.co.uk/

Braunton Countryside Centre are on both Facebook and the net!

From Bideford to Appledore.

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

Well it’s a warm sunny day so the three and a three and a half mile walk from Bideford to Appledore was in order. You join the coast path just past the skateboard park at the end of Bideford Park and follow the coast path acorn signs. The path meanders up and down through woods with tantalising glimpses of the River, at one point there are a number of WW2 tank traps to negotiate. It is rather nice to pass the impressive array of private houses and cottages with fabulous gardens and views out over the river. Finally you descend to the waterfront and walk past an impressive boat’s graveyard just beside the large Appledore dry dock now owned by Harland & wolff. You then walk around the dock and follow the road, through cottages and fish markets into Appledore.

In Appledore there are a number of great places to eat but after some deliberation we decided to have some wonderful Hocking’s Ice Creams in chocolate waffle cones and look out across the river towards Instow. Appledore is a hub for local music, arts and sailing and you can spend hours investigating the arty shops in the narrow alleys.

Beaufighters over Blackpool Mill.

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

I haven’t photoshopped any WW2 planes lately but after seeing these on the Imperial War Museum Archive, which came to my attention on Google, I decided on this. The cottage is at Blackpool Beach in North Devon and has been used in many films The Night Manager being the most recent. Below I’ve added some people from a WW2 photo taken during a supplies drop in Holland again referenced off Google Images. Picture of Blackpool Mill cottage is my image.

https://www.hartlandpeninsula.co.uk/self-catering/blackpool-mill-cottage.html

A little experiment with Lands End!

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

Just an experiment with colour and shapes, an acrylic painting on gesso panel 440 x 560mm A loose painting inspired by a wonderful photo by Liam Alford Photography on Instagram. This image is of Lands End in Cornwall, I particularly like the stone cold and neon cheap light in this picture typical of cloudy coastal scenes at this time of year. Oh I also have a little art assistant to! Stanley Brown our new Tabby!

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Kynance Cove.

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

A painting of Kynance Cove from a few days ago. We had walked from the Lizard Village to Housel Cove, then on past the Lizard Point to Kynance. The day had been very sunny but quite cold for this time of year, but once here we witnessed a massive hailstorm, we had a mug of tea and waited out the storm. Most people present left immediately and after half an hour the sun came out and this scene was captured on my Huawei phone.

Kynance Cove Revisited.

Al Brown Artist. Leave a comment

A wonderful day of walking around the amazing Lizard Peninsula. A pleasurable walk from the Lizard carpark down to Housel Cove, then along the South West Coast Path via Lizard Point to Kynance Cove. Arriving at Kynance we were assaulted by a massive hailstorm which lasted over half an hour. Once the blue sky finally arrived you could see the storm on the horizon like an atomic bomb blast! Whilst the storm was overhead most people had left the beach, when the sun returned we had the beach to ourselves a rarity here that’s for sure. Here I always marvel at the coast’s clear turquoise water and rugged outcrops of granite stone. We returned back along the coast path spotting bobbing seals and paddle boarders making the most of the warm sunshine, then to Housel and finally the carpark. More inspiration here for future paintings! Al

The picture below shows how the sand ebbs and flows throughout the seasons. The above image was taken a few days ago May 2021 the lower image taken in the Summer 2020.

https://www.albrownartist.com/