En Plein Air Painting at Mawgan Porth, Cornwall

Smiles, sunshine, clouds, learning, laughter and paint… this was a fabulous en plein air art lesson at Mawgan Porth, Cornwall.

Painting outside brings something very different to an art lesson. The landscape refuses to stay still. Clouds move, light changes, the tide alters the beach and colours appear and disappear as the sun moves across the sky.

That is part of the learning.

Rather than trying to copy a fixed picture, we begin to understand how to look, observe and make choices. What colour is the sea actually showing us? Where is the light coming from? Why does something in the distance appear softer? Which information matters to the painting and which can be left out?

These are the kinds of questions that help an artist move beyond simply reproducing what they think something should look like.

There is also something rather special about making artwork outdoors. Sitting beside the sea at Mawgan Porth, concentrating on colour, light and the movement of the landscape can become wonderfully absorbing. For a while, everything else becomes quieter and your attention settles on what is happening in front of you.

And then there is that moment I love… when understanding begins to change the way someone sees. Knowledge gives you choices, and those choices allow your own individual way of painting to begin to emerge.

This lovely student certainly embraced the experience. There were smiles, plenty of laughter and a fantastic Cornish seascape taking shape on the easel.

A wonderful few hours creating artwork on the beach in Cornwall… and a painting filled with memories of the place in which it was made.