Fishing Boats at St. Ives, Cornwall

          With all the beautiful sunny weather this week I just wanted to paint something really sunny and summery. Looking through an old sketch book I found a pen and ink drawing of some boats from when we were on holiday as a family in Cornwall in August 1998. I had never got around to producing a painting from it despite also keeping a reference photo, but here we are 14 years on and I finally found the moment!

      I often like to paint from a combination of sketches done on the spot, and reference photos. The rest is interpretation. So what was my ‘take’ on the picture? Well, I wanted it to be as sunny and bright as possible. The way to do this in painting is not only to make the shadows dark and often hard-edged but also to make the shadow colourful, ie blue and mauve rather than grey or brown. Also bring out the bright colours big time on those red and yellow balloon thingies with shine on, and don’t touch the white, just leave as blank paper. I’m pleased with the result as summer has been a long time coming and may disappear again in another day or two, so I feel as though I’ve spent the day back in St. Ives!

And here's a link to the painting on  my website: Fishing Boats at St Ives in Watercolour

Volunteer Taster Evening at Chedworth Roman Villa: Wednesday 6 June 18:30-19:30

Due to a major renovation project at the National Trust’s oldest property, Chedworth Roman Villa in the Cotswolds are now looking to recruit for a range of newly created volunteer posts from site guide, to conservation and visitor services.

If you have a passion for heritage, gardening or just working with people and would like to join a diverse team of volunteer staff here then come to our open evening on Wednesday 6 June from 18:30 – 19:30.

You will get the unique opportunity to have a tour of our site from our Curator, Rupert Goulding, as well as chat to other volunteers already employed at the site whilst enjoying some treats from our newly built café.

We hope to see you here in June.

If you have any questions or would like to register your interest in volunteering for the National Trust then call David Callaghan, Volunteer and Community Officer on 01242 890256

Chedworth Roman Villa
Yanworth
Gloucestershire
GL54 3LJ

See the new Mural at Chedworth Roman Villa