Bray

While I'm well-used to urban sketching, I'm still quite new to plein air painting. So I was delighted when a sketching friend proposed we go painting together in Bray. It's a 20-minute drive for me, with lots of easy parking. And plenty of beautiful views to paint, the harbour, the hill, the beach, the beautiful houses on the seafront and in the streets behind. On this occasion, we picked a little cove, just at the bottom of Bray head. Did you know by the way that "bray" comes from the Irish "bré", which means "hill". I didn't. Still learning something new every day. We used to often go to the Bray seafront for a walk on a Sunday afternoon. I actually used to work in Bray, a long long time ago. On the Quinsboro road (the one that goes from the main street to the Dart station and the seafront). It was handy for me at the time, as I could take the bus just outside my estate and be at work in no time. And in the evening, I would do my shopping at Quinnsworth, and take the bus home. When I got my first car, it's also where I got my first parking ticket, for parking half on a footpath. I was very upset about it! And I remember my dread every time I would drive out of Bray, going up the hill - I used to always hope the light would not turn red - it was quite a hill-start. And my car was old and had a tendency to cut out. It needed delicate use of the choke to start it in the mornings. Something I wasn't aware of when I bought it from a co-worker. It was also a left-hand drive. Not a good idea really. I couldn't believe it a couple of years later when I bought a brand new Ford Ka (it was raspberry red - I loved it!) and it was so easy to drive!! But I'm good with hill-starts now. All thanks to that hill just coming out of Bray. And also I used to live in Killiney, on the Shanganagh Road - there was hills everywhere!

Back to my painting day! The weather was threatening for a while, and a cold breeze was coming in from the sea. I had my winter coat on, and a hat, and I was still frozen after an hour and half painting. Lesson learned, bring a thermos next time. Though that presents its problems too, of a bladder nature, particularly as I drink green tea, which seems to be highly diuretic!

My main trouble that day wasn't the sky and the sea. I was happy with how they worked out. But the hill and the rest of the scene was too bitty. As I was looking into the light, I was just seeing a silhouette mostly, but I didn't want to paint a black outline. But I just couldn't figure out how I wanted it to look. I was getting bogged down in the detail.

So, rather than struggle with it on the day, I left it aside and did a scene in the opposite direction. At that point, the sky had brightened up and I loved the colour of the sea. (I need to rework the rock on the right - it's too dark and red.)

Over the last few days (we've been stuck at home with ex-hurricane Ophelia), I've reworked the larger painting. Thank god for the Watercolour Magic Eraser, and good-quality paper! I'm now done with it! I even gave the little man his fishing rod!