Painting holiday

Last week I went on a painting holiday in Boscombe, Dorset. The weather was awful with rain every day. It must have been difficult for families who had chosen this week for their summer holidays as there were few opportunities to get on the beach.

However I did enjoy the painting tuition even though a lot of it was in the studio.

On the weekend of my arrival there was supposed to be an airshow but it was cancelled with the cloudbase touching the sea.
This naval assault ship was to be one of the only surviving bits of the display.

 

We were learning to use watercolour for landscapes in a loose style.
Here our tutor was doing a demo at Christchurch. Soon the rain got harder and we all packed up and went for a cup of tea. Our first outdoor painting attempt had been foiled.

 

Back in the studio

 

After a few wet days, we had a day off and I chose to attempt to walk to Sandbanks. It started off gloomy. That is the Isle of Wight in the distance.

 

Along the way I called in at the Russell-Cotes art gallery and museum. Free entry and well worth a visit.

 

The rain was getting harder but I decided to press on. Old Harry rocks on the horizon.

 

The lifegaurd did not have much to do with nobody on the beach. Later I turned back having failed to reach Sandbanks. It was very wet and windy by now. I got soaked on the way back. Silly idea of mine.

 

One of our painting locations.

 

Place Mill

 

Back in the studio our tutor demonstrated how to simplify the complex scene in the photo.

 

On our last day the rain stopped. This is Highcliffe Castle.

 

The sun actually came out giving a chance to photograph The Needles.

 

Early evening view towards Bournemouth.

 

My studio painting of Place Mill using a sketch I did in the rain.

 

My painting of Prawle Point (Devon) from a photo.

 

Studio exercises

 

I did enjoy the week despite the weather. Hopefully I learnt a lot.

Peewit

Seaside special

Hi

Having enjoyed my trip to the seaside a few weeks ago I thought that I would try taking some video and still photos of the train as it pulls away from Woking station. It comes through every Wednesday in these holiday months and the nearby "twin bridges" offers a good vantage point.

I soon found that getting and editing decent video is extremely hard work with disappointing results. If you like the sound of a steam train watch this

Sorry about the jerky video

In future I am sticking with still photos as it is far easier and it does not matter if there is a noisy child who wants to go home standing nearby.

 

Peewit

Narrowboat frenzy

The section of the Basingstoke canal near where I live was dried out for a while to allow the fitting of some new lockgates.

Here are the new gates just after they had been fitted

 

A few days later the canal was flooded again, so having lived here for two months and not having seen a single boat go by it was a pleasant surprise to see the first two of a fleet coming along.
Having got into the lock they had trouble trying to close the downstream gates due to the accumulation of debris in the canal

 

The new gates in use

 

They eventually got the gates closed

 

Time to flood the lock

 

Almost ready to open the new gates for the first time

 

Open at last

 

The first narrowboat makes its way onward

 

Travelling companion

 

Heading for the next lock that is close to my house

 

Through the lock and heading for the brick bridge

 

Narrowboat seen from my bedroom window

 

More boats came up afterwards. Hardly a frenzy but at least the canal was in use for once

Peewit

Steam hauled awayday

I took a trip to the seaside yesterday. I was travelling by steam train to Weymouth.
The weather was lovely at Weymouth and I met a friend from college and work days who I have known for almost fifty years (that is a scary number). We walked along the promenade and had lunch at the Oasis cafe. I had a Portland crab sandwich and it was the best crab sandwich I have ever had.

This loco called Bittern was hauling us down to Weymouth and here it is arriving at Woking where I joined the train.

 

The journey to Weymouth was really enjoyable with some high speed sections and literally thousands of people who had come to take photos along the route. They were at stations, on bridges, standing in fields, at level crossings and hanging out of office windows.

After our three and a half hour journey from Woking we arrived at Weymouth where passengers where queueing up to speak to the driver.

 

The holiday season has started in Weymouth

 

A very pleasant walk along the prom

 

After our three hour halt in Weymouth, Bittern hauled the coaches back into the station. As on departure the train has to ascend the steep climb on the Upwey bank we going to have another loco pulling us with Bittern pushing

 

Sir Lamiel that was built in 1925 was hauling us and would take the train right through to Waterloo

 

Getting ready on the footplate

 

We travelled near Poole harbour. Some passengers were drinking a strange mix of lager and Newcastle brown ale.

 

After a long period of no rain the water had a lot of green on the surface

 

We stopped to pick up water at Eastleigh and many passengers wanted to see what was going on

 

Time for some checks in the cab

 

I thought the water would come from one of those overhead towers but apparently they are long gone, so ours came from a fire tanker

 

They just rememberd to fit up the correct sign

 

Time to oil a few bearings

 

I disembarked at Woking and walked up to see the engine

 

Bye bye as the train continues on to Waterloo

 

Peewit