A lucky find

Sometimes things just jump out at you when you walk along the beach.....Happy Valentines.

Pebbles found on the shore   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Pebbles found on the shore   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

A trip to Jersey

Snaps from a quick break in Jersey   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

There is nothing like taking a break from a big project and coming back refreshed. A quick trip to Jersey has done this for me and now I am ready for the home run of finishing up the loose ends. I can't wait to share this one with you.

I have competition for finding treasure on the beach now as someone has started his own collection ;o)  . New wellies were put to the test as we explored the rockpools at Green Island finding shrimp, crabs, a blenny and tickling sea anenomes. Holes were dug, castles built and destroyed; shells, stones, seaglass and seaweed collected - that was just me.... I didn't do any sketching at all and only opened a sketchbook to press some seaweed inbetween the pages. As a result I have a lovely damp, beach smelling sketchbook - ah well inspiration takes many forms....

Now back to work.

A contrast in textures Bee on a teasel photograph ©2016LisaLeQuelenec

In the dunes photograph ©2016LisaLeQuelenec

The Black House photograph ©2016LisaLeQuelenec

A right jumble photograph ©2016LisaLeQuelenec

-7 degrees last night! It was a bit of a shock to the system on the school run this morning. Thankfully the sun is shining though it is still cold and frost still covers the garden. I am sitting in the warm drinking hot coffee and thinking of the warmer summer days and thought I would share these photos. Hopefully they will warm you too if you are feeling the chill.

This first one is for you Rhonda I hope the migraines settle for you soon.

Getting out and about

I've been getting cabin fever, with the sun shining and birds calling I needed to get outside. I rushed through my chores, grabbed a camera and set off. It was a lot warmer than I thought it was going to be, so rather than going to the beach I headed for the river to find the evidence of Spring. Today wasn't about painting or sketching so much, more of a reconnaissance for future work and a recharging the batteries so I didn't do any sketching just took a few snaps as reminders of where to revisit.  I'm always drawn to the river reflections, there may be a series of drawings based on them in the not too distance future.

Snap shots from my walk photograph medley ©2013Lisa Le Quelenec

I had to include this snap of the black headed gulls. They line up along the bridge waiting for the people who come to feed the ducks. As you walk towards them they size you up for any goodies they might want then as you get too close one by one they drop of the side. They make me think of synchronised swimmers diving into the pool.

Walking the shore

Sparkling shore photograph ©2013Lisa Le Quelenec

The sun was too bright and the water too full of glare for taking photographs on Saturday so I tried holding my sunglasses up to the lense and took this one. It felt quite warm with our back to the wind and it was only when we turned to walk back that we noticed how cold a wind there was.

Stormy weather has been forecast from tomorrow so I headed back down for another walk this morning to make the most of it before the weather turns again. What a lovely way to start the week.

Blazing glory

Blazing Glory   11x11cm acrylic on board   ©2012LisaLeQuelenec

In my garden I have a little collection of trees, most of them are in pots to contain their size and they grow happily enough. Amongst the collection are acers (Japanese maples), an olive, a lemon, a eucalyptus, an acacia, and the latest - a lovely gingko that His Nibbs treated me to for my birthday. I find the different leaf shapes and textures of the barks and colours inspiring. Each tree has it's own time in the spotlight whilst the others wait to take their turn.  At this time of year the acers really come into their own glowing like jewels.

The painting below isn't of my garden (I wish!) it from a place called Hillier's Arboretum  in Hampshire where His Nibbs and I went for a visit. It's magical at this time of year. My treasure bag of beautiful leaves was full to the brim. It's most definitely worth a visit if you are in the area and whether you stop to sketch or not can take up a whole day.

Despite the specimens that I picked up that day it's the acer leaf from my garden that I decided to paint.

The pond at Hillier's Arboretum  ©2012LisaLeQuelenec

Celebrating and reaching mile stones

Last Saturday I celebrated winning first in show in the 'Postcards from Christchurch' Exhibition at the  Red House Museum. The Exhibition is on until 15th September and is a wonderful mix of painting, photography, collage, painting on china and textiles in many different styles and of many different subjects. What each art work has in common is the format which is 6x4inch. The way that each artist has approached this format is so diverse and makes for an interesting show which is well worth a visit.

I was in such a rush to get the paintings for this show delivered that I forgot to get a photograph of them. I will update this post later with one.  In the meantime as I hate to post with out any images I thought I'd share a photograph of this wonderful view from the beach at Southbourne. The rain never came but the sky did feel very dramatic.

From Southbourne beach ©2012 Lisa Le Quelenec

Today I reached a mile stone - 100 pieces of work in my Etsy gallery . An achievement, not just the number but the steps that I had to take to get there. As with everything the first one was the hardest. I like being part of the Etsy community and it gives me a real thrill to be able to personally send work direct to people anywhere in the world.

Thursday will be the 2nd year bloggoversary for Seaside Studios - another milestone which I think is well worth celebrating. I hope to see you then.

Riding along the shore - sketchbook preparation for a painting

I thought I'd share a work in progress as it has been a while since the last one. In the past I have shown a stage by stage progression of the actual painting starting with the under painting and working my way through to the final stage. This time I thought I would show the progression from initial concept.

This piece started back at Christmas, on Boxing Day to be exact, with a walk on the beach at St. Aubin's Bay in Jersey. When I was a child we lived very close but in the last twenty years it has become almost unrecogniseable when you look toward the town side as much land has been reclaimed from the sea and the harbor extended.

The photograph makes it look like a really dull and grey day but it was a beautiful morning and warm, it didn't feel like December. The bright sun reflected in the wet sand has over exposed the photo making it look very dark in comparison to how it was. There was hardly anyone on the beach at all, it felt like His Nibbs and I had the whole bay to ourselves. As we walked halfway around the bay a rider was exercising her horse at the waters edge and the reflections they made in the wet sand were catching my eye. On a large expanse of beach even a large horse can look miniscule.  I took some photos and watched intently trying to memorise what I was seeing as I had come out without a sketchbook.....

Sketchbook studies ©2012 Lisa Le Quelenec

It was the sense of scale in particular that I wanted to explore and after sketching square format compositions I thought I would try out a couple of panoramic shapes. It was this format that I decided to focus my attentions on.

You can see that very early on in these planning stages that I have decided to leave out any reference to the actual place. I could have included the shapes of the land or St. Aubin's Fort in the right of the bay or Elizabeth Castle on the right. The reason for this is that by omitting it the painting becomes at once more universal, it could be any beach and the rider could be anyone. I hope for the viewer to be able to put themselves in my paintings with their own memories and experiences.

I practiced getting the shape of the horse and rider, who I planned on showing only in silhouette, first in pencil, paying particular attention to the negative shapes made by the horses legs. (The photographs that I had taken came in very handy here.) Once I felt a little more confident I tried just drawing them with a brush in as few strokes as possible and to the scale that I would need in the painting.

The collage of images above is made from tiny sketches that were originally just a few inches big. Each time a new thumbnail is drawn, the plan for the painting develops, sometimes there are blind alleys but on the whole it is a very useful process for me in developing the essence of a piece. Better to adjust an element in a small thumbnail than to have to adjust something crucial in a large canvas. With preparation done it is time to get on with the painting....

Winter sunset

I'm painting as fast as I can but I've nothing at a stage to blog about yet. Sometimes it feels like slow going..... hopefully there will be something blog worthy in the next few days.

As an aside have you noticed what a small world (and shrinking everyday) it is? I've come across a few new blogs over the last couple of weeks and have chuckled to myself to see some familiar faces in their followers list. I love this community that we make up.

Winter sunset - Southbourne
photograph

Exhilaration

There have been quite a few drafts to my updated 'artists statement' but it is finally complete. I've added it as an extra page to this blog. It always feels like a daunting task and I'm glad that it's done but it has been a useful exercise in focusing on why I do what I do and what my aims are.

The word that had been on the tip of my tongue 'exhilaration'. It came to me as I did the washing up, the irony of the chore I was doing wasn't lost ;o)

This photograph was taken last summer on a warm but very windy day at Portland in Dorset. The wind and the crashing sea created so much spray that the chap down on the rocks must have been soaked. It's an image that I remembered when I thought of the word exhilarating.

One of the problems I had was in trying to keep it concise which got me thinking of haiku's....

A calm sea whispers -

I'm painting frantically

capturing the light.

I don't think that this qualifies but wouldn't it be a fun way to write an artist statement.

Snow day in Dorset

 

The view from my windows this morning along with some of my feathered friends who are all looking a little bewildered. It's unusual to get snow like this down here although we did have some earlier in the year. I cleared the snow and topped up the bird feeders and water as soon as I got up this morning and they've been busy getting extra calories to keep out the cold.

Back to work now for me, I'm not sure I can use the excuse of a 'snow day' when I work from home ;o)