sea blue sky abstracts

Beautiful, sunny day on Tuesday and now heavy, heavy rain - oh, and the wind's getting up!!  Looks like January outside.  Well, I'll be kept busy this evening framing these latest small original seascapes, which will be delivered to Art Space Gallery in the next day or so.  Enjoy! 'Just a Ripple at the Cove' oil on board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm. SOLD 'Relentless Sea' oil on board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm. SOLD 'Sea Movement' oil on board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm.   SOLD Click to enlarge.  Copyright Lesley Ninnes,

Looks like more rain for all from tomorrow, though we have been fortunate to escape the worst in this part of Cornwall over the past few days, with some decent periods of sun - Monday being a particularly fine day.  In the meantime, while the wait for some settled Summer weather continues, here are some more paintings to view...... 'North Coast Cornwall' SOLD  below, measures 27.6 x 19.7 x 1.6 inches in a solid white wood frame.  Paint has been applied with knife and brush, with heavy impasto in some parts.  Currently exhibited at St Ives Society of Artists Norway Gallery. 'Porthmeor, Seaweed & Surf' oil on canvas.   SOLD 'Wild Coast' SOLD is rendered in oil on board and is now framed ready for the forthcoming show 'Wish You Were Here' which opens at St Ives Society of Artists Norway Gallery on 5 July, 2012. Click to enlarge.  Copyright Lesley Ninnes.  Keep dry! x

'Wild Coast' below is rendered in oil on board and measures approx 31 x 21 cm.  Glazed frame with black moulding, dimensions are 38 x 28 cm.   SOLD  This is another painting for the Wish You Were Here exhibition which opens at St Ives Society of Artists Norway Gallery in July, 2012. 'Clouds and Rock' oil on primed board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm.   SOLD 'Wind and Waves at the Beach' oil on primed board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm. SOLD Glazed frames, light wood moulding - both paintings will be delivered to Art Space Gallery shortly.  Click to enlarge.  Copyright Lesley Ninnes.

Lower Penderleath Farm Hostel, St Ives Lower Penderleath Hostel is situated 3 miles from St Ives beaches and 5 miles from Penzance.  The property sleeps 24 in total  -  8 in twin private rooms, 12 in an Alpine mattress dormitory and 4 in a self contained maisonette.   There are showers, toilets and a large fully contained kitchen and a large dining area for 24.  Featured in the Independent Hostel Guide  and Group Accommodation. Com A lovely rural setting close to the hamlet of Towednack - within 3 miles of the coast and beaches of St Ives and St Ives Bay.   St Ives Camping and Hostel Click photos to enlarge.

The paintings featured in this post were works in progress as the artworks in the previous post came to fruition. 'Wish You Were Here, it's Wild' oil on board, 6 x 4 inches. SOLD 'Wish You Were Here at Lamorna' oil on board, 6 x 4 inches. 'Bright Sky and Sea' oil on board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm.   SOLD 'Silver Sky' oil on board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm.   SOLD 'Back of the Quay, oil on board, 19.5 x 19 cm.   SOLD Click to enlarge.  Copyright Lesley Ninnes.

A busy but enjoyable time has been spent producing the nine small paintings below. There's an interesting story behind this first which is rendered on what was the back of a green painted board - see the part it plays in the painting which appears on this post !    The board was liberally coated with PVA glue but proved too weighty for the canvas, so I had the bright idea of peeling the painted layer off the backing. The paper covering of the backing board was wet with glue and a residue of green paint could be seen around the edges.  I moved the wet paper around a bit and pushed on some paint, which was absorbed by the porous surface, giving a soft, chalky appearance.  Soon the paper shape was saying 'cliff/headland'.................and the creation of what was to become 'Gwithian Impression 2012' had begun. 'Gwithian Impression 2012' mixed media on board, 17.5 x 17 cm.  SOLD 'Gwithian, Rough Weather' oil on board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm.   SOLD 'Tiny S

For those of you intending to visit the Bath Society of Artists 107th Annual Exhibition, now is the time to pay a visit, as the exhibition closes at 5 pm on Saturday 19 May.  Below are images and text from the accompanying catalogue - click to enlarge.   Click  here  to go to the Society website. Plus, entry is admission free!

Last Thursday found me at a workshop held by Michele Wright and Marie Keeling at the Porthmeor Printmakers premises in Back Road West, St Ives.  There was an opportunity to produce a drypoint print before moving on to create collagraph prints - the first example of which can be seen below. With collagraph, all sorts of materials can be stuck onto board to create texture and imagery.  My board has some sort of fibre thread, bracken fronds, anaglypta and at the top, pieces of an absorbent paper that's often used to wrap flowers, all glued down with PVA adhesive.  The entire surface of the board is then sealed with Shellac and when dry is put through the printing press.   (Now I've slipped up here having not photographed the prints before painting on them at home - my favourite part!) The first was very inky - there's even a splodge at the bottom.  The bracken has been painted over with watercolour and gouache with pink gouache over the light area around the thread.

See below 'Porthmeor - Seaweed and Surf' which has been submitted to St Ives Society of Artists annual Spring Open.  Painted in acrylic and oil, approximate canvas dimensions are 51 x 61 cm. Click to enlarge.  Copyright Lesley Ninnes.

Just two for now, original paintings in oil on board. 'Beach & Ground Sea' measures 17 x 17.5 CM is currently exhibited at The Crypt Gallery at St Ives Society of Artists venue. Light coloured wood moulding, glazed frame.   SOLD 'Porthmeor Sun & Rain' measures 25 x 19.5 cm.   SOLD and is encased in a glazed frame with black moulding. Hopefully, it will be part of the exhibition of members work in the Crypt Gallery at St Ives Society of Artists in a show that opens today. (If not, the painting will show up shortly at Art Space ). Click here to see the painting I have submitted to St Ives Society of Artists annual Spring Open exhibition. Click to enlarge.  Copyright Lesley Ninnes.

When uploading images of two recently completed abstracts (below)  I also came across these pictures of the night sky showing the alignment of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter.  They're not the greatest pics and don't come close to the nightly spectacle we were lucky enough to witness during those many clear nights towards the end of last month, but here goes anyway......... This first shot shows all three setting low down in the Western sky - the lights of a solitary house visible at the bottom of the photo. In this cropped view the light of the Moon is so bright that it glows through the area in shadow. Click here to see some terrific shots on The Mail Online. 'Spring Deconstructed 2012' mixed media on deep-edge canvas, 61 x 51 cm. There were elements of this painting that I was really pleased with but as a whole somehow didn't work!  Only when the original arrangement was 'deconstructed' using thick swathes of impasto did the c