En Plein Air at Mawgan Porth… Painting in a Blowing Gale

This was one of those proper Cornwall days… beautiful to look at… wild to stand in.

The wind was so strong at Mawgan Porth Beach that I had to weigh the easel down… weigh the water down… hold onto the palette… and try to keep myself steady at the same time.

Even then… everything was still moving.

The light was shifting… the reflections were changing… and the sea never stayed still for a second.

That is the challenge and the joy of painting en plein air in Cornwall. You are not painting something fixed. You are painting something alive.

I would have loved to have taken a photograph of the painting with the view behind it… but I simply couldn’t stand up properly long enough to do it. So this image shows the painting en route… still in progress at that stage… with a little more done afterwards.

What I love about painting outside is that it asks something different of you. It asks you to look quickly… understand what matters… and respond to the atmosphere rather than chasing every tiny detail.

Mawgan Porth has that wonderful combination of space, movement, light and changing colour. The wet sand picks up the sky… the water flashes with turquoise and white… and the whole place feels full of energy.

As an artist in Cornwall, these are the moments I love most. Not perfect studio conditions… but the real thing… wind, light, movement and all.

If you’ve ever wanted to understand how to paint what you really see rather than what you think you see, that’s exactly what I teach in my lessons. It’s about understanding the fundamentals… depth, tone, perspective, atmosphere and light… so you can respond with confidence, even when the elements are doing their best to blow everything away.

Mawgan Porth Beach always gives you something different… and that is part of its magic.