Eight Barricane moments that inspired me to paint.

If you know Woolacombe, then there is a very strong possibility that you will know Barricane.  To many it is associated with the Barricane Beach Cafe's tasty Sri-Lankan curries. Some love nothing more than getting down on hands and knees and combing the fine sand for rare sea shells. I always remember an old lady telling me years ago that the shells all washed up from the Caribbean on the Gulf Stream, and that you can use the letters of Barricane to spell it ( except that Caribbean has two "B's") but who am I to get in the way of a good story. She was very convincing! Curries and cowrie shells aside, it's a magical little cove that offers something special at any time of the year, and this latest collection of eight paintings illustrate exactly that. From baking hot summer evenings to a chilly New Year's Day, and gloriously warm milky Spring mornings. Click on this link and you can view all eight paintings. View the "Barricane Collection". I hope some of the many different moments that I enjoy about Barricane Beach connect with you in this collection, I would love to hear from you about which ones you liked or brought back memories from special trips there in the past, or even the anticipation of trips to come. Drop me a reply to this post with your favourites. I'd love to hear from you! Have a great day! Best wishes,

"Curries and Sunsets''

It doesn't get much better than this. Picture a warm evening on a shell beach in a little secluded cove, feasting on a genuine Sri Lankan curry, and the best bit?.....it's right here in Devon!

Have a great day!

Steve.

 

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Morning Paddle - Barricane Beach , Woolacombe

An early morning ski paddler goes for his daily paddle , the stillness of the ocean and lack of wind make for ideal conditions to glide across the water. What a great way to start the day!

"Morning Paddle" is available from my fine art website here.

Have a great day!

"Painting Hydra" a watercolour journey funded on Kickstarter

"High Noon, High Tide, Hydra Harbour"

Watercolour 9 x 5 inches.

This was one of the first watercolour location sketches that I painted upon my arrival on Hydra ( pronounced  EE-TH-RA ) a beautiful island just over an hour's sail away from Athens, Greece.

With the successful funding of the " Painting Hydra " project on Kickstarter , I have just spent six days painting on this idyllic island , no cars, no bikes, just boats clinking and water lapping against the rocks , blue skies and gorgeous Greek light.

                                                   

                                                   Painting in the harbour on Hydra.

Over the next few weeks , I'll post some of the photos and paintings up from the trip.

Now that Autumn has firmly established itself on our shores. I will also be updating my Fine Art website with all of my available paintings.

Here's today's watercolour.

"Looking for Shells"

12 x 9 inches framed £145 Sold

Have a great day! 

www.stevepp.co.uk

June on the Coast - Watercolour sunset paintings at the beach.

June certainly didn't disappoint, when it came to warm weather and melting sunsets. Most evenings you could find a gathering down on Barricane Beach, soaking up the warmth and the spectacular sunsets.

"Wouldn't Want To Be Anywhere Else!" was all you could here some evenings.

12 x 9 inches watercolour on arches paper. Framed. £145 Sold.

The other side of June is the quiet weekdays before the main tourist season starts and these fisherman were enjoying the solitude of a sunset fishing session. I wonder if they caught anything?

"Sunset Fishermen" 12 x 9 inches watercolour on arches paper. Framed. £145 Sold.

"Feeling Warm"- watercolour painting on the beach.

Well didn't that just feel like Spring? Conor Wilson gave me the pleasure of his company today, so we spent a joyously warm afternoon, painting down on Barricane Beach. Whilst Conor painted the scenery, I was captivated by a bunch of friends and their children chatting and playing in the early warmth.

"Feeling Warm" - watercolour- 12 x 9 inches framed .

£120 SOLD





On the way back we popped into "Eddy's" for some tea and cake and saw some old friends hanging out there!

"Fast Eddy" and his brother " Herb", looking good on the walls fellas!

"Mid-afternoon dip, Barricane Beach" - Win a free framed one off print of this watercolour painting!

Just when I thought Summer had given up the ghost and Autumn had muscled in a bit too early, up pops a little scorcher like today!

I hooked up with an old friend Conor Wilson, who I hadn't seen all Summer and we set up down on Barricane Beach to paint some watercolours. 

The light today blowing in on a North-Westerly wind was sharp and so clear. This couple obviously weren't prepared to give up on Summer either as they went for a little dip into the sea.

If you would like to win a one - off framed print of this painting, all you have to do is "Subscribe to my blog" by popping your email address into the box on the right of this page, then check your email for a link to verify that you have subscribed and your name will go into the hat for next Friday's draw.

This week's winner is Emily Raven, Congratulations Emily! You're framed print of  "A rest after gigging all day", is on it's way to you!

Let's hope for an "Indian Summer"!

You can see this and more paintings on my Fine Art website.

"Mid-afternoon dip" watercolour framed 20 x 16 inches.

Have a great day!

"Peaceful Spring Morning"- plein air watercolour painting on the coast.

"Peaceful Spring Morning" Barricane Beach, Woolacombe, Devon. Watercolour on rough paper 12 x 9 inches.

Getting up and out early , more often than not has it's rewards, beautiful light, peace and quiet and an empty beach. This lucky fisherman got all of those this morning, he truly looked at peace with his lot as he went about setting his bait and casting out, then patiently sitting and waiting for a bite.
Spring truly has sprung! You can see the final painting on my Fine Art website here.

Enjoy your Spring day!

Watercolour painting on the beach....in February!

You can only stay in your studio come cave for so long in the winter before sunny days start calling their siren-like song to you. " Come outside and paint, come outside it's lovely!"
This past week has seen a beautiful spell of back to back sunny days with crisp light , the only thing is it's freezing! The warmth of the sun through the studio windows is misleading, that Winter siren at work again. Once outside the bitter NE blowing in from Scandinavia lets you know that we are still firmly in Winter's icy grip. I had to go out though, a few emails to the Devon 11 and two other hardy painters wrapped up and met me down on Barricane Beach for an afternoon's plein air fun.

Paul Kenton brought his pastel set-up down and Nigel Mason came equipped with his french easel and oils. I decided to take the watercolour kit.

The tide was on it's way in and consistent swell fanned by the chilly offshores , erupted against the rocks, it was beautiful! A few brave souls were enjoying their half-term break taking in the sun and sea air, although they didn't last long as that wind was far too biting, eating through as many layers as you tried to put on to keep it at bay.

We cracked on and all got busy with initial studies, then after a quick tea break from the hot flasks we set up to attempt larger works. Paul got very inventive, combining hot spicy, herb tea with a sable brush and improvising over his pastel scene, resulting in a classic PK take on the day.

 Nigel painted some lovely small oil studies on panels, by then the cloud cover had come over and killed the light, that didn't stop Nigel though, and he revelled in painting the close values of the various greys in the scene.

By now, my down jackets had lost their battle with the winds icy attack and my flask of hot tea was drained, so it was time to head home.

A cold day, but still huge fun to be out doors painting with fellow artists, sharing a laugh and the joy of plein air painting.

You can see my finished watercolour "Glorious February" that was painted on the day over on my Fine Art website Steven A.Pleydell-Pearce Fine Art

Here's to warmer Spring days!

Plein air painting on Barricane Beach,Woolacombe, Devon

 There is something so calming about setting your painting kit up on the beach. Lisa Igo was booked in for a one day painting workshop, so we chose the secluded location of Barricane Beach in Woolacombe , Devon for our day's painting.

 We started out with a quick exercise in Notan sketching in oil, literally a few minutes quick sketching in a dark mix of Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson. A great way to assess the the masses and dark and light in your composition.

Next we pre-mixed a swatch of the various colours and tones from our setting, using the limited palette of Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cad Red Light, Cad Yellow Light , Phthalo Green and Titanium White, this proved really helpful as the light continued to change throughout the day, and our palettes got more and more worked on., we could refer back to the swatches for colour matching.

 The first two studies that we painted in the morning were painted onto a dark almost black undertone that I had prepared the night before. This gave a useful step along from the Notan studies allowing us to block in colour and light , leaving the dark masses as undertone.

 After a beach lunch of pasty and tea, we worked on a set time limit of approx 45 minutes to capture the next study of sunlight breaking through the clouds and lighting up the sea in front of us.
We used a different format panel and an orangey brown undertone , to help capture the warmth that the afternoon light brought. These were great fun to do and the resulting little oil studies were loose and vibrant.

A great day painting plein air at the beach that we both enjoyed!

As Winter draws in we were lucky to get such a pleasant and calm day. I look forward to sneaking a few more such days in when Mother Nature chooses to share them with us.

Have a great day!

" Lazy Afternoon " - almost painting out in the sunshine

9 x 6 inches oil on canvas panel. £400

"I was so enthusiastic about getting to the beach today to paint in this beautiful warm sunshine, that only after I had scouted out my spot , set everything up, squeezed out my paint, ordered a tea , worked out where to start, did I realise that I left my white paint at the studio! - Doh!! So, this little study was done from memory back in the studio. Funnily enough, before heading out, I was reading Kevin MacPherson's excellent book " Inside and Out " and he mentioned trying out an exercise where you studied a scene outdoors without a sketchbook or camera, then went back to your studio and painted it from memory. I thought that was an excellent idea, and one that I would do one day, i didn't quite expect to be practicing it half an hour later. Kevin was right though, it's amazing how much you remember, try it out sometime?"

" Catching Up " - a busy day at the beach

I'm really enjoying painting these little watercolours. It's trying to keep disciplined in what to leave out rather than what to put in. This fella was engrossed in the day's news, whilst slowly baking in the sun.


Watercolour- Sold-
£20 mounted Prints available.

Have a great day!

Surf Check. Have you got any wax?

Barricane Beach  14 x 10 inches Oil on Canvas Board 

Sold

You can just imagine the conversation, as these two prepare themselves for an early morning session in the surf.

After Summer

Second in the Barricane Beach series of oil paintings.

This is a great little beach that gets super crowded in the Summer, but can be blissfully empty in the Autumn and Winter. Oil on canvas board 14 x 10 can purchased here.

Surf Check

14 x 10 inches oil on canvas panel Sold.

This was painted on a stunning day down on Barricane Beach. A long promised swell was pounding the beaches and surfers were coming and going all day. The light was constantly switching from strong autumn sunshine to subdued moody overcast.