Life's A Beach

Yesterday was one of those days. I woke up to sunny weather, selected a large canvas, and set off to Osmington. The weather was so lovely I didn't even bother to take a waterproof coat with me.

Arriving at Osmington Mills it was still sunny, but I could barely open the car door it was so windy. Finally managing to force my way out of the car, I took the canvas out of the boot – and prepared to walk down the steep cliff path to the seashore.

As soon as I took two steps down the path I lost control of the canvas. I nearly ended up doing some impromtu hang-gliding, but I managed to bring it under control. My painting hat also blew off and disappeared. Well, I was sensible enough at that point to go back to the car and not risk breaking the stretcher bar of the canvas (which was flexing strongly in the wind), or indeed every bone in my body if I had been blown down onto the rocky beach.

Abandoning the idea of painting at Osmington, I drove the short distance to Ringstead, where the carpark is at least at sea level. On choosing my view and setting up I thought the light and colour of the sky was really interesting.

The reason for this turned out to be the almost instant arrival of a squally shower, which soaked me, the canvas, and my palette.

The first two photographs above show my brushes, and the palette covered in raindrops (you can click on them to see them in more detail). I also took a snap of myself as I arrived on the beach, just prior to the drenching.

By the time the shower was over I was too wet and cold to continue. I'd got a promising start to the painting though, which I'll continue working on later in the week.

Lesson learned. Always take your raincoat and wet weather gear.