Housel Cove on The Lizard off to a new home. I’ve visited this cove many times and it’s amazing how it changes from low and high tide and through the seasons. At times it’s just a rocky gap which opens to the sea for cold water swimmers and at other times it’s a sand covered secret beach! The sand moves with time and the seasons and erases all of the footprints of the year! Al
A composition of the famous fisherman’s hut in Mullion Harbour, Cornwall. Whilst walking on the cliffs here I often see Choughs flying amongst the grass so I’ve decided to add some to the stormy sky. Through out I’ve struggled with the surface of this panel as I’d applied a smooth coat of gesso which surface seems to produce a more graphic look to my brushstrokes. In comparison, I find fine canvas to be a more subtle surface for colour blending and shading, with that said I find the final picture is somewhat appealing to my eye! Acrylic on gesso panel 380 x 380mm.
The start of 2023. The completed acrylic painting 820 x 400mm above is of Kynance Cove from a sketch made in November 2022. My wife and I were staying in Mullion Cove for my Birthday weekend and made our way here. There were no tourists as the weather was very changeable but once we go down to the beach we were surprised to see that the tearooms were open. We sat on the benches and this is the view we enjoyed for an hour or so with it’s incredible light illuminating the sea.
I’ve tried to keep this painting looser than normal as it was just an exercise in removing the white of the canvas gesso and promoting some sense of light to dark contrasts. From the beginning I reference the original sketch and start to make sense of the correct sky tones and highlights on the sea. I must say there is a certain honesty to my original sketches perhaps my plain air sketch books should be shown.
Now finished I leave it on an easel for a week or so and make final adjustments. As usual the Titanium White appears bolder that it actually is when photographed. Al
A return to Mullion Cove for my birthday. A great four days sketching and taking photographs for future compositions. My wife and I visited Kynance Cove and the light at this time of year was quite stunning. Cadgewith Cove was also visited and my wife searched for sea glass whilst I sketched a few of the boats. This was continued with Seafood Chowder at the Cadgewith Inn.
Other sites to see were Coverack Harbour where sea glass was found, when the rain did finally make an appearance we continued on to the Lizard Point where the sun made an appearance again. Overall we were very lucky with the weather as you can see from some of my photographs. Al
An hour of getting rid of the blank white canvas and laying out the basic tones and colours for this painting. It’s been quite a while, for various reasons, since I daubed paint on canvas so this initial start should commit me to action.
We loved our stay here a few weeks ago and the coastline along this particular part of the Cornish coast is stunning. I sat sketching the sea from ontop a cliff here and watched a sailing ship weight anchor and it’s small boat venture into Mullion Harbour over the crystal clear turquoise water.
The final acrylic painting is 24 x 30″ on canvas please note that the colours are not as the original painting! Al
A visit to Bristol for the Harbour Festival and to pick up some large canvases in view of trying to break my creative lull. I think Mullion Cove will be next!
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.
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.
Al Brown Artist. 