sketching in Wiltshire - February 2025

 

Sketching at Avebury - chilly but exhilarating! The contact with the landscape, feeling the wind but hopefully still feeling my fingers and toes.

Art Residency at Brisons Veor, Cape Cornwall, in July and early August 2024

 A fortnight at Brisons Veor, Cape Cornwall

I was lucky enough to have a two week residency to create art in a house net to the sea at Cape Cornwall.

What a fabulous fortnight experiencing changing weather and light on the landscape while listening to the roar of the sea. 

During the first week I sketched mainly using charcoal dust and cold wax on oil paper, sometimes adding oil paint.   Then in the second week I developed oil paintings on panels. It was possible to focus fully and to soak up the sights and sounds of the coast.

I shared the residency with Julie Marcus - we worked separately in different studios and outside but came together to exchange thoughts on our artwork, to visit a couple of exhibitions, laugh and swim.

 

The residency is run through the charitable trust Brisons Veor and is made possible by the generous gift of the house to the trust by Tracey O'Kate.

The name, Brisons Veor, comes from the rocks directly off the coast near the house.

Sketching in Pembrokeshire

 I have been visiting north Pembrokeshire regularly since 1987 and never tire of the area, particularly the coast.  I love the craggy cliffs, swooping and diving birds, wildflowers, the coconut perfume of the gorse and the changing light. 

I spent a few days there last week and did some sketching in between the showers.

Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year is now being broadcast on Sky Arts - see 17 January programme of Liverpool Albert Docks

 

On 14 June I Took Part In The Sky Arts TV Landscape Artist Of The Year As A Wildcard In Liverpool, Albert Docks.

I arrived at 7am to check in and have my canvas stamped. There was a buzz of excitement. I struggled to carry everything that I might need, but some people had a huge cart of materials and equipment. After registration the cameras were put in place and we were filmed as we processed to the designated Wild Card area on a cobbled area near a huge anchor. In one direction we faced the Tate Gallery and in the opposite direction we could see layers of buildings, old and new.

We were based at the docks on a very hot day! Painting in the heat was challenging and I was very happy to have a parasol. In retrospect I wish I had used oil paints. I used Open Acrylics which dried more slowly than classic acrylics but oil paint would have given more time to work.

I made a quick start to sketch a possible composition but soon decided that it wasn’t what I wanted and chose to paint the old Great Western railway building with slices of modern architecture behind it. I had just started painting when Tai Shan Schierenberg came round and stood looking at my artwork. Much to my surprise, I froze and couldn’t paint any more until he had moved on. What an opportunity missed! I would have loved to have spoken to him.

I did managed a conversation with Stephen Mangan, the presenter of the programme. He was very charming and humorous and I felt quite relaxed.

As the morning progressed, so did the heat - it was about 30C. I was very lucky that my husband was there bringing me cold drinks and minding my things while I went into the Museum of Liverpool briefly. I am usually quite a slow painter compared to other plein air painting friends but on this occasion I finished in three hours, quicker than the allotted 4. I am used to working outdoors and the public and cameras milling about didn’t upset my concentration unduly. It was fascinating to see how others tackled the view, the heat and the changing light. If you work outdoors regularly then the weather and the variations in light are not a surprise - you just have to make a decision as to what moment and atmosphere you are capturing and stick to it. I am more used to colder and wetter weather when painting outdoors in the UK but it’s good to be prepared for anything. I don’t think I could have lasted 3 hours without a parasol.

It was interesting to listen to the judges discussing the work of the artists in the pod. Of course they say a great deal more than you see on TV as it is edited. The pod artists had a very difficult view, I think . They were looking through a gap between modern buildings towards more distant Victorian architecture and it was interesting to see how they tackled it.

When I emerged from under my parasol Kathleen Soriano came by and made positive comments about my artwork which was sitting proudly on my easel. My husband brought me a celebratory ice cream.

The programme was broadcast on Sky Arts on 17 January and I appear briefly in a few shots.

'To be there' - new solo exhibition of pastel landscapes at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Gallery, opening Tuesday 17 August 2021

 

'To be there'

Solo Exhibition 

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists - ground floor

17 August – 3 October 2021

 

Linda Nevill would love to be in any of these landscapes again whether in sunshine or snow, on a clifftop overlooking the sea or high in the hills.  These are her responses to a range of landscapes evoking memories of, amongst other things, the softness of heather, the searing heat on the coastal path, the tingling of ice and the crunching of footsteps in snow.

Working in all weathers to make plein air sketches and studies she works with these and photographs to create finished pieces.

For this exhibition she has worked with vibrant soft pastels

https://www.rbsa.org.uk/

Plein air painting at the seaside - windy but wonderful

 It was wonderful to be able to paint outdoors on the beach.  The tide was coming in and the wind was sharp but somehow battling against time, wind and tide was exhilarating, especially of months working only in my studio.

Sketching in the snow in January 2021

 

January sketching outdoors!  I didn't last long as it was exhilarating but freezing.   My fingerless gloves needed to cover more of my fingers - I must invest in some new ones if I do more of this

Sketching outdoors - connecting with nature - holding onto my sketchbook and hat before they blow away

 

A welcome trip to the coast. 

I like the struggle to keep my hat on and to get some marks on the paper as my sketchbook blows in the wind. I'm capturing impressions and memories as I sketch.