River Hamble
I had made a solid plan for where I would paint – Seascape of Bosham, I’d checked and rechecked the weather forecast, sun and cloud – perfect. Not too much wind and tide was the right level. Picked the boards/canvases that I thought would suit that subject. Left at 1.30pm ready to do two paintings a later afternoon and a sunset.
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| Work in progress, beautiful sunset! |
It was heavy cloud all the way down to the coast. Left which is the Bosham area a thick blanket no sun, right had sun on the horizon, I made the quick decision of turning right, I drove into Portsmouth but decided there wasn’t enough sun, so I came back out and went towards Southampton. I knew there was a river a long there having walked some of it with my Mum 10+ years ago.
A friendly security guard at a Marina said walk that way for some good views. I wasn’t decked out to be walking and had to dump some of my boards (getting rid of weight) in the car. I walked on a path next to the river it wasn’t a great view and I didn’t know if it would get any better but decided to persevere as I’d come this far. I went about a mile when the river bent into the direction of the low sun, the clouds had broken up into a wonderful formation and there was the view! So relieved and happy to find something inspiring to paint.
Although the time was ticking on, I’d mapped out a composition and quickly mixed some paint colour ready, but by then the scene had change too much so I started another this time just painting the sky, after it had changed again I painted the sea and foreground. I finished it in the studio.
Perseverance pays!
When I first drove down to the coast looking at the sky, grey and more grey with a tiny amount of light. But to carry on with the uncertainty of finding a decent subject and to end up painting a new place was definitely worth the angst! It doesn’t always end in a positive! Plein air is such a challenge in so many ways and this was just one of them!
Clare