Hello everyone!
This painting was an incredible experience. I turned up on this section of Brighton Beach, and the it felt like gale force. The waves were sometimes about 10ft high, moving quickly in the direction of the wind, and smashing against the rocks and shore.
I got as close as I felt I could get away with. I opened my tripod and buried the easel legs a few inches into the stones, and quickly attached my bag to the center as an additional weight, adding more stones inside to keep it stable.
After setting up, I had second thoughts, my mixing trays were rattling and the easel was shaking, but I kept the easel still by resting my left arm as I painted, and trusted it would hold in place for enough time to get a quick study done.
An art teacher came over and commented, she said she is always trying to get her students to get outside and sketch. She left and I quickly returned, I knew I only had a small amount of time to try to record something meaningful.
I then noticed to my right, a man who was standing there with goggles on, as a 10ft wave smashed the shore a few feet away from him. He actually went in for a swim, and then lost his hat seconds later.
The strength of the wind meant I could not do any detail strokes, and with 5” X 7” panel, it meant that the entire study had to be an impressionistic one!
It got to a point where I could no longer feel my fingers or hand, almost all sensation was gone, and I was essentially mixing and painting with the movements of my shoulder.
I managed to get this down and packed away (which took ages), and kept all of materials. I then went for shelter to pack everything away properly.
What an experience.
This painting is for sale on my website:
Thanks everyone,
Robbie
That's an epic story to go with that painting. The things you do ay XD
@ryivhnn thanks! It's certainly an exciting experience, painting en plein air outside. People will come up to you intrigued, and will talk, ask questions and share some of their own stories!
And tell you how awesome it looks? XD