The Painting Of Steephill Cove

I am painting Steephill Cove on a 24" x 12" stretched cotton canvas and will be posting its progress step by step. In the first stage I have drawn a little more detail than usual as I wanted to be sure of the relative size and positioning of the buildings the next stage will be to give the canvas an acrylic wash to seal the graphite so that it wont sully any pale colours, it also kills the white of the canvas and makes colour temperature, hue and tonal values easier to judge.

Stage one the drawing of Steephill Cove

Stage II

Stage II acrylic wash of Alizarin Crimson and Burnt Umber  wiped with cloth to lighten tone, warm colour chosen to help with depicting a really warm summers day. 

Stage III

I work from the sky which is furthest away and paint in the basic colours, then add the clouds and whilst I have the sky colours on the palette I use these to paint in the initial colours of the sea which I will adjust later on after the distant land, rocks and waves are introduced. 

Working from the headland furthest away I fairly loosely paint in the cliffs, rocks and foliage and will build up the detail and highlights working towards the middle distance.

I have added more detail and highlights in the background vegetation, shoreline rocks and painted in the buildings, beach and coastal defence rocks, you will notice that I have painted over the drawing of the tractor and trailer because the initial drawing wasn't large enough and it is always easier to paint over the background than trying to paint around a complex subject like a tractor and boat on a trailer.

I have put the detail in the sea and on the foreshore waves, weed etc. I've also added the tractor, trailer and boat which fishes for the crabs and lobsters which are available to buy either complete or as meals and sandwiches in theSteephill restaurants. I have also sharpened up some of the detail in the rocks behind and to the right of the tractor. The next stage is to put some people on the beach and finishing touches to the foreground and rocks on the right hand side.

Here in the final stages of the painting I have sharpened up the detail in the rocks on the far right, but not too much, and have added the people enjoying their day on the beach, note the fisherman just in front of his tractor and boat in yellow  working gear! I think this is now a completed picture and so I have signed it. Look out for my next stage by stage painting. Why not sign up as a follower? I'd love to have you aboard!