Another wonderful year of Cornish inspiration. Our much needed family time by the coast felt particularly sweet this year. The weather stayed fine and any serious cloud blew through within a couple of hours. Perfect conditions for airing the sketchbook and dusting off the travel brushes. Normally i’m lucky if I get one occasion to slip away and be arty (it is family time after all). But with our kids getting that bit older, they are pretty content doing their own thing on the beach. Leaving me a few extra moments to explore and add to my Porthcothan sketchbook. Here’s some snaps of the coastline…
A here’s a few watercolour and graphite pages. It’s funny how rusty it feels on the first sketch (even if it’s only been a few weeks since my last outdoor drawing session). I was rather exhilarated to discover the flow of my pencil and plein air brush once again… finding something of a groove through the sketchbook.
Below i’ve added a few snippets from the bay and the walk along the coastal path. I was delighted to have some company on visit to Fox Cove, with my father-in-law Peter joining me out on the rocky shelf!
I also wish i’d captured some closer footage of Will’s Rock that lies at the end of Porthcothan Bay. It has such a presence on this beach. The atmosphere really changes as the tide moves around it; and on this visit the tides varied so much I was able to walk up and touch it. It can appear dark, but actually has many bands of colour rising through it. I could easily paint these features a hundred times and find something new on each attempt.
There are also plenty of caves and hidden coves. Long cove being a big favourite… I quite enjoyed playing with the orientation of my sketchbook here!
The week turned into such a boost. From climbing the ridge at Trevose Head down to rockpooling Booby’s Bay. I had already worked on my Porthcothan Sun canvas ahead of our trip, but I already have another view picked out from the dunes here… as well as scenes from the bays up to the headland and round to the lifeboat station and Padstow harbour. So much to potentially work on, but we’ll have to see how waylaid I get in other paid projects. For now though, if I need creative energy, I have my Porthcothan Sketchbook to turn to.
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