Brighton Painting Group July meeting
Other commitments have meant that I’ve missed the past few gatherings of the Brighton Painting Group so it was a real treat to be able to join them on Saturday.
The location was Hove Park, which is one of Brighton and Hove’s largest parks. I know it well from many family visits and from cycling around it’s perimeter with my daughter.
Although it’s a beautiful park, it’s not one I could say particularly excites me from a painting perspective. But this is why I so enjoy the Brighton Painting Group. It’s about just turning up, finding a subject and getting on with it!
It was another beautiful day, but still cooler that my last visit to the Park, which I now know was officially the 2nd hottest day in the UK’s history.
After meeting the group at the cafe in the park, we all dispersed to find a suitable location to paint from.
My main criteria in selected a view was to find somewhere that I could be confident of remaining in the shade throughout! I found a tree that offered excellent shady coverage, from which I could look out across this view of the park:
I thought that I might be able to make something of this. I liked that it had some strong contrasts and even some silhouettes that I thought I could make good use of!
Ahead of the day, I’d already deciding that I would try to paint two paintings, whereas in the past I’ve only managed one and usually overworked it!. I also committed myself to painting larger than usual, mainly thanks to recently finding some lightweight corex that I’ve been able to make a half sheet board from that’s easy to carry.
Painting No. 1
Here’s how I got on with my first effort:
I painted this in the shade and, when I thought I’d finished it, I took in out into the sunlight and was both shocked and dismayed by what I saw!
The colours, especially of the tree on the left, were so crazily vibrant. The dry grass also looked more like a view of the Serengeti than a parched park! I could have dropped in a couple of cheetahs, and maybe an elephant or two and they wouldn’t have looked out of place!
I did what I could to tone down the tree on the left but in my mind, I’d already had enough of this painting and had moved on!
Painting No. 2
Halfway through this first painting I went for a little stroll while the paint dried and to try to resist the temptation of my constant fiddling.
Ironically, as I stepped back from my painting spot, I actually saw much nicer view, that included my easel:
As soon as I’d seen this view, I couldn’t wait to paint it! I finished up my larger painting and, as I was largely dissatisfied with how it had turned out, I was keen to try and make amends with another painting!
By this time I only had about an hour left so opted for a smaller quarter sheet painting.
Here’s how that one turned out:
This one came together quite quickly and I was much more pleased with it than my first painting. I think the composition is much better and the whole painting has a looser and more vibrant feel to it.
All in all – and regardless of my efforts, it was a great day of painting and, once again, so nice to be painting in the company of others!
To finish, here are a couple of photos of me at my easel – I’m the one with check shorts!
