coastline | Lavelle Art Gallery

I’ve been working on a couple of paintings based on the Connemara coastline. I used some photos I took off the coast of Inishturk for reference. I started out with some texture in the form of paste which I applied directly onto a canvas board, in an effort to get some movement into the piece as well as surface texture. I had last winter in my mind and the destructive nature of the water which changed some parts of our coastline dramatically.

Textured paste on board

Next some colour – new greens just purchased ( mixed with a little brown ) blue, gold and white. I left the canvas to dry overnight at this point and continued working on some other boards.

First layers of colour

Here’s the finished piece. I’ve added more colour in the form of paint and acrylic ink. This one took only two sittings after which I felt it was ready to varnish. I developed the next two canvases a little further as you will see in the next post.

Finished paining

I’ve begun a series of small paintings based on my trip to Inishturk and Caher island recently. It was such a thrill for me to have the perspective of the islands from the sea – all that blue/black/green in the foreground with a gorgeous slice of land in the middle of it all. I decided to work small and quickly rather than give myself the pressure of a large canvas so I chose acrylic paper, small pieces – 3″ x 4″ and 5″ x 7″

I prepared several sheets with a wash of blue and white.

Next I outlined some rough compositions and I used acrylic paste for texture.

Once the paste was dry, I went in with lots of colour – some charcoal first for the cliffs. I used paint and ink applied thickly and thinly in turn to maximise the effects that these two materials bring when used together. I worked quickly and back and forth between several pieces. The one in the cover photo ( also below ) was the last piece I worked on. I think it works best because I had figured out what I was doing by this stage. This is what it looked like when wet below.

Here is the same piece when dry – the paint has settled so the textures are clearer. The colours will brighten when I coat the surface with an acrylic varnish later, which will not effect the texture.

Here’s another piece – the first photograph below shows what it looked like when wet.

The same piece when dry below.

I’ll be taking a break from painting and blogging soon as I have a job for the Summer months which I have already started. I’ll post more about that in a little while..

Tag Archives: coastline

The Edges of the Land

Island Paintings