The sea surprised me. The sun was shining and the sea and the beach at Kilmore Quay were overwhelmingly beautiful. I love the sea no matter where I am in the world but I wasn't expecting such a vivid blue sea in Ireland. I guess I was thinking it would be a deep and dark brooding sea. Instead the colors reminded me of a tropical sea. The amazing shades of blue with the yellow and white wildflowers were a gorgeous combination. I couldn't get enough!
It was Tuesday. The third painting day of Art in the Open. As advertised the bus left promptly at 9:00 am. I boarded the bus with anticipation and with my new friend Sharon from North Carolina. We met on the elevator and became great friends. In fact there were several Americans at the event. In the beginning we knew one another by state....soon enough by name. I was Georgia. Then Karen from Georgia.
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| A sheltered spot with plenty of inspiration |
Sharon and I decided to paint together and we found a wonderful sheltered spot on the beach at Kilmore Quay. I was inspired and painted four small paintings before lunch. In the photo above you can see my pastel set up in action. I was using the Heilman double sketchbox with small easel attachment on my Oben tripod. I made good use of the tray for my working palette. My box was filled with an assortment of Terry Ludwig pastels. I also brought along a small box of Nupastels that I used for detail work.
At one point during the morning a couple of ladies came by to see our paintings. It seems as though they were working in the shop on the bluff and had been watching us all along. They decided to close the shop for a minute to get a closer look.
After a productive morning we set off for a walk around the docks to see what some of the other artists were doing. Once again I was surprised. The wildflowers along the banks and docks were simply amazing. I took many many photos. The boats weren't too bad either! I just might be tempted to paint boats.
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| Plenty of great boats to paint! |
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| And plenty of wildflowers if you don't paint boats! |
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| I was in Wildflower Heaven.....my two favorite motifs in one place! |
How could I be at the seaside and not have fish and chips for lunch!? Fortunately there was a very busy and yummy lunch spot. It was so pleasant enjoying fresh fish on picnic tables.....in the sunshine!
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| Time out for lunch with traditional Fish and Chips |
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| The color of the sea was amazing |
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| A little selfie fun |
After lunch Sharon and I wandered to the dune side of Kilmore Quay. The winds had picked up and we decided to find a bench and lay low. It was a good choice. I painted four more for a very inspired and productive day.
See all available Ireland paintings in my Etsy shop here:
www.etsy.com/shop/karenmargulisfineart
4 comments:
Love your work Karen! Is there any particular pastel paper you prefer to use when doing plein air paintings?
Thank you! I don't have a real preference but do like sanded papers such as Uart and pastel premier. I'll be blogging about the paper I used soon!
Ireland looks wonderful! Thanks for these posts, I'm living vicariously though you. Your paintings are gorgeous, love the colors.
Great seascape painting with so nice and light colours !!!
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