...and Burdall went to Skinningrove: revisiting 7 days of painting

Feb 04, 2014

[gallery type="square" ids="207,208,205,206,209,210,200,211"] Last year I spent seven solid back to back days painting from a photograph of Skinningrove by Ian Burdall.  As this painting has recently been sold I thought I would take the opportunity of revisiting the progress of this painting's development. From the start I thought that the usual size of landscape canvas wasn't going to do it justice so when I found myself with 7 whole days of potential back to back painting I knew that was my opportunity to work on something really big.... and big it was, a whopping 122 x 153 cms. [caption id="attachment_1460" align="alignnone" width="584"]and Burdall went to Skinningrove at TOGS gallery and Burdall went to Skinningrove at TOGS gallery[/caption] At the end of each day I posted a snapshot of how the painting progressed which had a great response from friends and family... lots of encouragement, especially from the Burdalls, when painting was becoming back breaking and at times frustrating. It is very unusual for me to paint from a photograph which isn't one I've taken myself or at least been present when the photograph was taken.  So after spending 7 days back to back working on a painting of a place that I'd never visited the only thing I could do was go there with the Burdalls to check it out... any excuse to go to the seaside especially if there's a chance of some fish and chips! Note how calm the sea is in the photo below! [caption id="attachment_1799" align="alignnone" width="584"]A day at the seaside! A day at the seaside![/caption] Well that weekend not only involved the consumption of many bags of chips (and beer of course!) but also resulted in many photographs for further paintings, such as this one of Skinningrove which is the view looking back towards land and more importantly includes the wiggly road and pigeon sheds... oh yes and a caravan! [caption id="attachment_1349" align="alignnone" width="584"]Skinningrove Skinningrove[/caption] "And Burdall went to Skinningrove" is my favourite painting and I am sad to see it go.  However, I know there will be many more paintings to follow which I will happily share with you, both in terms of the high points as well as the low points and in particular the various stages of cursing that I generally go through with each challenging painting! Should the lovely new owners of this painting read this blog then do send me a photo of it hanging in its new home... we're all keen to see where it lives now.
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