ARTSITECAROLYN PAINTING BLOG TRIPS BY CAROLYN LAMB

Priests Cove to Lands End oil

7/27/2016

15 July 14.16 pm. My large canvas was wider than the door but just fitted within the balcony width. I tied it on so it could not blow away. I started on the 14th with the sky and background in case it was hidden by mist later and pepped up the colours as the scene was so grey.

17th July at 17.29 A sea mist had been coming and going all day hiding Sennen and Lands End so I was working on the foreground.

15 July at 21 .20 More work on the sea and cliffs but no foreground rocks yet.

18th July at 15.18 Although sunny it was now so windy that the canvas was bouncing around so much I had to bring it inside

18th July 15.18 worked on the sea and rocks more. Brief glimpses of that amazing turquoise sea colour.

Priests Cove to Lands End. Carolyn Lamb. Artisan Oil on 50x 100 cm canvas. The finished oil painting on 18th July at 20.30 after more work to the sky, clouds, sea and rocks. To the left Carn Gloose, in the distance Sennen and Lands End and far right the Longships with lighthouse.

I can claim my Brisons Veor project was a success as I did achieve one big 50 x 100 cm painting, but I still have another canvas the same size and my giant roll of paper was untouched. It was great to have the studio space to spread out and time to work on a larger piece over several days . But so many interesting painting subjects had to be left for another time.
The last day was just pack up and leave by 11, but then I enjoyed the freedom of a wild dash plein air painting, battered by wind in the afternoon at Porthmoina. I saw a pod of dolphins swim past and there was a brief period of that amazing turquoise Cornish sea before it clouded over.

Rock Stack at Bosigran Cliff, Porthmoina. Carolyn Lamb. oil. 19th July 2016.

The Brisons in Oil

7/27/2016

By Day 3 I still had not worked out how or where to do my big painting so I started a small 30x30 painting of the Brisons from the balcony. Grey and overcast but it only rained on me once.

By day 4 the weather finally improved and instead of shading from rain I was shading from sun

The Brisons, Cape Cornwall. Carolyn Lamb 12th & 13th July 2016. oil on MDF

Finally it was sunny enough to also go outdoors to paint this oil of Fisher huts, swimming pool and the Brisons

GIVE ME THE MOONLIGHT

7/27/2016

It is never dark where I live so although my main project was to paint at least 1 large oil, my secondary project was to attempt to paint moonlight.
Advance preparation is key. For No1 I drew the house view first in daylight from the car, then set out my 4 colours (black , white, naples yellow and prussian blue). As dusk fell I used the red beam on my head torch to light up my kit with brief flicks onto dazzling white to see what actual colour I was using. However although it had stopped raining it was still too cloudy for the moon to show through and once dark everything was just completely black.

Three oil sketches attempting to depict moonlight --1) No moon at Brisons Veor,2) Moon over the Brisons, 3) Moon over the Brisons v2

Next night I had given up thoughts of moonlight, but spotted its reflection in the house window, so quickly did a watercolour postcard of Moonlight over the Brisons. I then launched into No2, a 20x 20 cm oil from the balcony before it clouded over again. I used the palette from the Brisons painting so ended up with french ultramarine by accident rather than prussian blue. The following night the sky cleared again so I did a bit more and an even smaller oil attempt -No 3.

Two nights later the moon was out again, this time over Lands End. This attempt in pastel was a bit more successful. By having a distant lamp on in the room I could just about see my paper.

Final tiny attempt in ink but I need time to study this subject more and how to depict darkness.

The glorious Cornish Summer.. Ha

7/27/2016

Fog and rough weather, Priests Cove, Cape Cornwall, 9 July 2016 Carolyn Lamb Conte pencil

I had imagined 9 sunny days painting outdoors in Cornwall. This is what I got. A blanket of fog hanging over the view. Luckily I had added some Conte pencils and pastel paper to my kit at the last moment so did this view of waves through the rain splattered window on my first evening.

My one a day sketchbook was useful for small studies

The benefit of a cliff-side house is you have a view whatever the weather .

My first full working day started at 9.30 with small ink sketches getting to know the landscape. This cliff is Carn Gloose and that seagull came every morning.

The view was constantly varying. Tides coming in and out, the other side of the bay at Lands End going in and out of view and weather constantly changing but forecast to be generally cool, overcast and showery.

Showers once an hour meant no long spells of outdoor painting so I started indoors with my big (for me) watercolour paper and tubes.

The Old Pump House, Priests Cove. Carolyn Lamb watercolour 10th July 2016

Although Brisons Veor is said to be the westermost house in England, I was not completely isolated as friends Lisa and Roy came down from St Just at teatime most days, bringing goodies and cough medicine and we went sketching. This is the hut I painted in 2011, now further battered and roofless.

More or less everything Brisons

7/24/2016

Nearly all my work assembled for a final photo. The small square picture in the centre is my normal size so I did get BIGGER but I never had time to use my huge roll of paper (leaning on the left).

I guess there are four strands here -
1) studies of Priests Cove to Lands End (including my big 50x100cm oil and the 2 big watercolours) which happened throughout all 9 work days.
2) studies of The Brisons (rocks) (including the 30x30 cm oil) which happened on 6 of the days.
3) studies of moonlight, including 3 small unfinished oils, which happened on 6 days.
4) Other subjects including the Fishermens huts and swimming pool oil, on 6 days

Weather Brisons VEor

7/24/2016

Where was summer? I arrived in thick fog! SO I made a daily timetable so I could log weather, tides and what I did, so as not to lose track and spend my time staring at weather out the window.

LoadING THE Art materials FOR CORNWALL

7/7/2016

For the Brisons Veor residency I am taking nearly everything. The bottom of the guinea pig cage fits exactly across the back seats and it is filled with equal height boxes.

Alkyds, inks, watercolours, acrylics, Artisan oil, drawing pencils, Pitt pens, sketchbooks, brush kit, plein air painting box, small painting supports, ruler and so on. Because my stay is cut short I will use oil paints first as they need the longest time to dry, then the alkyds, then the acrylics towards the end. Not visible here- two large correx boards and my giant 1.5 meter roll of watercolour paper and various off cuts, plus the boot will be full of clothes, wet weather gear, easels, and painting stools. And, cross fingers , sun hats.

On top of those goes a layer of card then my 2 large 50 x 100cm canvases. Face to face at the moment but I will have to layer them when they are wet. These photos will help me remember the packing sequence.

Brisons Veor Residency, Cape Cornwall, July 2016

7/3/2016

Cape Cornwall is one up from Lands End. The sheltered bay below is Priests Cove. I painted this little oil of the view there towards Lands End in 2011

I can remember looking up at the little row of cottages and thinking how great to stay in one to paint. I had no idea the end one was an Artists Residential Studio run by the Brisons Veor Trust. Last year Portishead artist Ian Price told me about brisonsveor.org.uk. and I successfully applied for a residency. I have 9 days for my project which is to have the time and space to PAINT BIGGER. (Bigger for me that is as my normal size is less than 30cm)

Boat Pond, Wick Quarry

7/3/2016

Boat Pond, Wick Quarry. Carolyn Lamb oil 2 July 2016 Wick Quarry Bristol/Bath and not Wick, North Scotland

Painting at part of the former Wick Quarry, between Bristol and Bath. They struck a spring so it is now a small duckweed covered lake. Other parts of the quarry still exist. Thanks to artist Neil Murison, R.W.A. we were able to paint here today. Everything was very green but I was able to get a bit of blue from this beached boat.