Falmouth Working Boat

In October we have an Oyster Festival here in Falmouth, where a lot of 'shucking' goes on along with well known chefs doing cooking demonstrations.
Alongside the quay there was an interesting Falmouth Working Boat called Alf Smythers,  which is still being  used for oyster dredging. I did a quick sketch before the rain came in heavy, and luckily managed to take a few photos on my phone.
The oysters in the River Fal are only allowed to be dredged for under sail or by oar, in other words- not with an engine. This is a sustainable and eco friendly fishery, and it's the traditional way too. Last week I met Ranger who is the skipper of Alf Symthers, and he was happy to hear of the sketching. Here is a link to his new website cornish native oysters for more details of how they work.

During the last month I have painted a triptych of Alf Symthers, showing her from different views. I have been doing quite a few sets of three recently of different subjects and they sold as soon as they were hung in the gallery!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I haven't been able to get online much this summer, but now with our mobiles  now having a 1GB instead of 100MB means we can use the laptop.

 Luckily the last paintings I took to Waterside Gallery are selling well, I wasn't sure how they would go, but when framed and hanging on the gallery wall I was pleased how colourful they looked. 

I have spent the last few weeks painting a few watercolours, the best times were being able to do this sat in the cockpit in the sunshine. I have also been trying write up my sketchbook journal about our Camino that we did in June. We have had some perfect sails in the local area, which can't be beaten for boating when the weather is fine. Magical nights at anchor up the River Fal with tawny owls making the odd hoot.

Latest Paintings taken to Waterside Gallery St. Mawes, Cornwall

These are a few of the paintings I have been experimenting with recently, along with my usual watercolours of local scenes and boat details. When shopping at a Breton market last year, I was fascinated with the striped awnings of the stalls, bright colours of fruit and glistening fish, together with my admiration of the Scottish Colourists, made this work a real pleasure. When I showed them to the gallery owner to ask his opinion, he took six there and then to have them framed , which is very encouraging. The first one I did in this style was for the Twitterart exhibit and it sold straightaway, so you may see more bright work here soon.

Gweek Boatyard

I heard yesterday that Luke Powell's building of Scilly Pilot Cutters has come to an end at Gweek and there is no sign of his workshop having been there. All things change, but I used to love to watch the progress of each boat in construction and then to see them sailing. A friend lent me Luke's beautiful book Working Sail last month, I wish I could have kept it! http://www.workingsail.co.uk/new-book/ . The above painting is from couple of years ago, and if there are any keen health and safety inspectors looking the fellow was wearing a dust mask, but the romantic in me changed that!

In Need Of TLC

This is the other picture from my latest painting sessions, a watercolour of a boat passing through, on her way to being renovated by new owners. It would be nice to think that maybe next time I see her, she will be under full sail in the bay.

Detail of an Old Fishing Boat

I have been busy this last week, this one of two boat pictures I have enjoyed painting. I love the rust and peeling paint on old fishing boats that are past their prime,you find them on the shoreline or hiding up creeks here on the River Fal.

Thinking of Spring!

Here in Cornwall , there hasn't been a day without rain or a threat of some kind of damp weather for ages.

So I thought I would do an ink drawing of a couple of hares springing about in Spring, to help me to feel more positive about the winter ending soon.

 I used videos to watch hares in action, unfortunately I haven't seen them boxing myself, as they are so  fast I don't think I could sketch that quick!

 I do rough drawings on tracing paper first as the hot pressed watercolour paper I use is delicate, there is no way you can erase marks without damaging the surface.

 The plus side of tracing paper is you can move things around to help with composition, even move the subject back to front. In this picture I drew the hares on individual A4 sheets.