Tag: Devon

I want to be by a beach

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An old watercolour of Bovisand Bay. Choppy waters, Devon coast near Plymouth. Cornwall in the distance. Thus is where I want to be. Staring out at sunshine or showers, paddling in the water or splashing about further out. Looking at the plants and animals in the countryside around the bay.

The rocks on the left hand side are where local youths “tombstone” or jump off the top into the bay when the tide is in. Round the headland is another part of the bay. A woman died trying to swim round to it several years ago. There are shops and bungalows High up on the cliffs in the other part of the bay, but the last time we went the carpark above it was partly fenced off due to the cliff collapsing. With more storms and bad weather it is possible that costal erosion will increase and many costal properties and land will be lost to the seas.

Watercolour sketches.

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I was just looking through an old watercolour sketchbook with landscape scenes I did a while ago. I think one was done in 2018, but have no recollection of doing the others. I know the one with the harbour wall and blue sea is Polperro? The boats picture was done as a quick sketch. The flowers and hills one is called Storm warning. The two lake paintings were done at Trentham Gardens. The yellow sand and dark rocks is at Bovisand in Devon if I remember rightly. The figure looking out of a Summer house is my partner looking at the view at the Dorothy Clive garden.

Sun pillar

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It was about 5 years ago when we were on holiday in Devon. We had arrived at the camp site late in the evening after a leisurely drive down from the Midlands.

As the Sun started to set we walked down through the dunes to the beach. My eye was taken by a pillar of sunlight shining from below the horizon where the Sun had just set. I have seen sundogs before (reflections off clouds on either side of and above the Sun that look like tiny parts of rainbows). But I did not know what this was. Luckily I had my camera with me and snapped these shots.

I later found out this was a sun pillar, caused by the sun reflecting off high icy clouds. I’ve never seen another one.

Remembering Devon

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It’s been a few years since we visited Devon and I want to go again soon. When the Sun shines its glorious, the air feels clean and the Sun gleaming off the sea makes you feel alive.

These flowers were in the tangled hedge along the pathway to the shore. I only used my old digital camera to take the shot and I was pleased at how clearly it came out. The stamen were curved into loops, the pink petals had deep cuts in them making it look like they were two petals, not one. The sunlight just catching areas of the photo lifted the dark areas and gave it interest. I was also pleased with the slight blurring in the background.

The whole photo brings back memories of the sandy path and steps down to a small bay, the blue sky and sea. Sitting on a rock as the sea came in to the low cliffs surrounding the bay. And the view out over Plymouth sound. We must go back.

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Two old paintings

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You know when you find old paintings? You wonder where you were when you painted them, what you were doing! These bring back memories of a holiday at Challaborough in Devon in 2002.

The rocks were dark and solid, with red brown sandy beaches. Across the bay you could see Burgh Island, a small island across a stretch of sand. To visit it you had to drive up from Challaborough and follow the coast road round to a little hamlet opposite the island.

The stretch of sand is really a sand bar that reaches out from the coast to the island, sometimes it is under water and can only be reached on a sea tractor that has a seated platform high above the waves. The island is worth a visit  because there is a 1930’s hotel on it that Agatha Christie, the famous crime fiction writer, stopped at. There was also a pub near the shore of the island, called the Pilchard. Im not sure whether they are still open as it was over 16 years ago that we were there!

I remember taking little canvases with me and sitting painting the view from the caravan site we stayed at at Challaborough, I also remember having to stay there longer as I twisted my ankle because the caravan steps were rusted through with the sea air and collapsed when I climbed up them.

Anyway these are two small canvases that bring back memories…..

View of Dartmoor

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This is a painting I did a few years ago of a friend standing beside one of the outcrops at the top of a hill in the Dartmoor national park.

The rocks have been weathered over the millennia to create flat plate like structures stacked up on top of each other. Sometimes the base will be of softer rock and so the stack will be formed above a narrow neck of rock where the surrounding stone had been worn away. Another place to find these sort of outcrops is in Yorkshire. You can also get limestone pavements where the rock is at ground level but there are large cracks going down deep between the rocks with plants growing up, taking shelter between the stones. These can be found up at Malham cove in Yorkshire.

My friend used to fly gliders over Dartmoor, so he knew his way around the area. It is a beautiful part of the world, high up above the surrounding countryside with rolling hills and wide skies. Sometimes it snows up there and it can be very bleak in the winter . I can imagine trying to shelter behind these rock on a cold winters day with an northerly wind blowing snow and sleet at you. I guess Dartmoor ponies might even have sheltered there.

The painting was quite small and was painted with acrylic on canvas. It went to a good home.

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