Plein air painting 128

This street view from within Southampton shows East Street looking towards the High Street, with Queensway cutting across the view. On the right side can be seen the empty Debenhams building, opened in 1959 (as Edwin Jones) and shut since 2020. The crane is deployed on the Bargate building project which can be seen rising behind the hoardings.
Painted on a Sunday morning (12/05/24) in oils on cardboard, sized at 12 x 9.5".

Plein air painting 112

Mayflower park is a public area situated very close to the port of Southampton, and is an ideal vantage point to see all types of shipping either in the docks or leaving. The park was created in the 1930s from spoil retrieved from the building works in connection to the massive rebuilding of the port at that time.
In this view we are looking from the park, across the River Test (where the main port is situated off right) and see Marchwood, a military port, on the opposite side. A boat can be seen with a crane performing maintenance on the floating jetty in connection to the International Yacht show due to be held there later.
Painted on the 17th August, in oils on mounting board sized at 12" x 9.5".

 

Southampton Northam Railworks - oil painting

Painted in early 2022 this scene shows railway works at Northam (Mount Pleasant) a suburb of Southampton. The normally busy four track railway is closed and the level crossing for road vehicles has been temporarily pulled up. New track is due to be placed on fresh ballast using the approaching panel hanging from the rail crane. In the distance in this industrial scene, can be seen some of the landmark buildings of the city of Southampton.
This painting measures 33” x 23”, done on mounting board using oil paint. A number of photographs were taken a couple of years previously and used for reference for this artwork. Unusually this engineering/ transport artwork was painted in public during a residency at the Southampton city art gallery, in public, during the spring of 2022.

The painting can be seen in greater detail here.

Men At Northam Southampton Boat Yard - WIP stages

Men At Northam Southampton Boat Yard - WIP stages

WIP stages of boats at a Northam boat yard oil painting.

The Northam area of the city of Southampton in Hampshire, features a number of boat yards as it is located on the river Itchen. This painting, completed in January 2019 features a scene of a drydock with men preparing to use a crane to place a boat in to the river from the dry land.

The picture above shows a number of stages of how the painting was created. The first stage shows the drawing which is done with dark, brown acrylic paint on top of a wash of a similar colour. The dark tones within the scene are painted in as are very light in tone subjects, such as the sky, using white acrylic paint. The middle panel shows work moved on where now oil paint has been used to indicate the underpainting, often in darker hues of the final intended colours, and is achieved by using diluted, thin paint. Detail is still quite basic at this stage. The last panel features the final, finished artwork. It can be seen that the colours are now correct, having been applied with thick oil paint and also details regarding the surfaces and lighting, are now included.

The painting can be seen on this link.

Men At Northam Southampton Boat Yard - oil painting

Men At Northam Southampton Boat Yard - oil painting

Finished oil painting of men working at a Southampton dry dock

In this marine based landscape painting we see some men standing in a boat yard next to a crane. Their job later will be to lower one of the boats in the drydock they are stored in, in to the water, using the crane. The river behind them is the River Itchen, which starts north of Winchester and joins the busy shipping lanes of Southampton Water, at Southampton city. This particular boat yard is at Northam.

Painted in early 2019 and in oils. The size is 28” x 20” and is painted on mounting board.

A more detailed view of the artwork can be seen on this link.

boat yard with crane - water colour sketch

boat yard with crane - water colour sketch

This water colour sketch, painted on a sheet measuring 10" x 7", was done on a sunny Sunday afternoon in June 2016. It is set in a boat yard next to the River Itchen, Southampton. A number of the undersides of boat hulls can be seen, with various pieces of clutter on the ground, with a large crane in the background used to life the vessels in and out of the water when required.

 boat yard with crane - water colour sketch