Posts Tagged ‘virtual travel’
narrow streets and wide-open countryside 7-11
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Landaviddy Lane in Polperro (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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I have never encountered such narrow streets as in Polperro. In this charming little town, the streets bulge with sightseers. The narrow streets can be confusing, so it’s a good thing the roads are labelled to show the ‘Way Out’ …
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July 21, 2013 ‘way out in Polperro’ Jane Tims
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Best View: countryside near Polperro … yellows are a little bright in the scanned version compared to the original painting …
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July 19, 2013 ‘countryside near Polperro’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
peering over hedgerows 7- 10
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Talland Bay (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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I am beginning to realise, the Cornwall countryside is often not visible from the road, a result of the ubiquitous ‘hedgerow’ …
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peering over hedgerows (image from Street View)
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Fortunately, there are weird trees at intervals …
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eerie tree near Talland (image from Street View)
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and places where the trees make tunnels of the road …
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narrow road and natural archway (image from Street View)
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natural archway (image from Street View)
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Best View: Church in Talland … I tried using pen with the watercolour … I love the big cloud … but the gravestones a bit thin and wavy …
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July 18, 2013 ‘church in Talland’ Jane Tims
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and the waves at Talland Bay … these waves have some frothiness compared to my painting of the beach at Millendreath (see post for August 7, 2013) …
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July 19, 2013 ‘waves at Talland Bay’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
hills and harbours 7-9
One advantage of a virtual cycling trip – a day like today is not exhausting in spite of steep roads. Visiting the city of Looe involves biking from the higher land around St. Martin, down into the valley where Looe is situated. Leaving Looe means biking up a very steep hill until you reach the high land again.
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houses along West Looe Hill … a long way to the top of the hill (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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Looe is from a Cornish word meaning ‘deep water inlet’. The River Looe divides the town into East and West.
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approaching Looe from the east (image from Street View)
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The town is a busy port. Life seems to be centered around the river and the bridge crossing the river …
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bridge over Looe River (image from Street View)
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Sail boats anchor just off Quay Road …
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view along Quay Road (image from Street View)
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It can’t always be fun to live at the base of a steep hill …
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what happened to the white car? (image from Street View)
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Best View: a composite of two places on West Looe Hill … a garden of shrubs and ferns …
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and a view of a quaint stone stairway …
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I think they blended well into a single painting …
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July 15, 2013 ‘West Looe Hill’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
on the beach at Millendreath 7-8
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church at St. Martin (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Maps)
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On Day 8 of my virtual bike trip along the coast of Cornwall, I did three watercolors of the countryside. I can’t keep this up, but for now, I am enjoying learning about watercolor technique. My plan is to practice, using the scenes of Cornwall as my inspiration, and later, do a series of watercolors ‘en plein air‘ in an area of New Brunswick I know well.
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I began my biking in Millendreath on the beach looking toward Looe Island. I love the band of red seaweed, left by the waves at high tide. My waves need work – I have tried leaving white space and then highlighting the areas later with Titanium White, but this does not allow for splashy detail in the waves. I plan to try a product called ‘resist’ – it keeps small areas free of paint until it is removed. The name Millendreath sounds like it comes straight from the Lord of the Rings …
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July 13, 2013 ‘beach at Millendreath’ Jane Tims
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In St. Martin, I passed by the Parish church …
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July 13, 2013 ‘Parish Church, St. Martin’ Jane Tims
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On the high land above Millendreath, the scenes are of distant hills and fields …
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July 13, 2013 ‘countryside near St. Martin’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
along Looe Hill 7-7
stairs along Looe Hill (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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Looe Hill (pronounced to rhyme with ‘who’) is probably the most magical, interesting place I have discovered so far on my virtual journey. Much of the length of the road is a narrow path between high banks. The overhanging trees must create a microclimate where wildflowers and ferns thrive …
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ferns and flowers on the road banks of Looe Hill (image from Street View)
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More open sections of the road show the steep terrain …
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Gorse on Looe Hill (image from Street View)
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Best View: leafy tunnel on Looe Hill … I like this watercolor, especially the ferns, done using a dry brush to pull color from the fern shape, and the way the light varies across the painting …
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July 10, 2013 ‘Looe Hill’ Jane Tims
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This image provided the inspiration …
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road on Looe Hill (image from Street View)
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Another magical view was of ‘caves’ created by the overhanging vines. I made two attempts at this … the first was a disaster. I like the second attempt (below) but it fails to capture the ‘caveness’ of the view. I like the vines, done by dipping the head of a carved eraser in the paint !!!
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This is the inspiration for the painting …
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vine ‘caves’ on Looe Hill (image from Street View)
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
Downderry by the sea 7-6
my first view of Downderry (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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Downderry is a charming town, tucked beside the sea …
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houses in Downderry (image from Street View)
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My virtual memories of Downderry will be of stone walls …
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gardens along Downderry street (image from Street View)
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hillside gardens …
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hillside gardens (image from Street View)
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and a charming red brick church …
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Downderry church (image from Street View)
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Best View: a lilac in front of a white house …
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July 4, 2013 ‘Lilacs, Downderry’ Jane Tims
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and a Horse Chestnut tree beside Downderry Church …
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July 5, 2013 ‘Downderry Church’ Jane Tims
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Then, onward to Seaton and a backward view at Seaton Beach from Looe Hill …
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July 6, 2013 ‘Seaton Beach’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
along a Cornwall road 7-5
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farm tucked into a valley (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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Today’s virtual biking trip took me toward the town of Downderry, along narrow roads lined with Western Gorse (Ulex gallii) in yellow bloom. Gorse grows on sunny sites with sandy soil and is common on the heathlands along Britain’s Atlantic coast. Before my virtual trips to France and England, I had heard of gorse but had never ‘seen’ it …
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gorse in bloom (image from Street View)
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I saw a few farms along the way …
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a house and barn (image from Street View)
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and horses in a green pasture …
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horses (image from Street View)
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Best View: farmstead not far from Downderry … my skies are improving, don’t you think???
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June 8, 2013 ‘farm near Downderry’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
painting my way along the Cornwall coast 7-4
street in Crafthole (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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One of the things I like best about my virtual journey along the Cornwall coast – the names of the communities: Crafthole, Portwrinkle, Freathy !
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a dog looks at me from the window of a house in Crafthole (image from Street View)
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Today, I drove through Portwrinkle along Finnygook Lane.
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July 3, 2013 ‘Portwrinkle’ Jane Tims
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Here is an interesting sequence of photos and a visual commentary on the width of the roads. First, I see a truck coming toward the Street View car …
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Help! I am sure there is no room to pass! (image from Street View)
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Then we squeeeeeeeze past …
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I look back and I don’t see any indication we did pass (no tracks in the shrubbery for example) …
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And, I was so busy trembling over passing the truck, I almost didn’t see this door in the side of the hill …
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you’d miss it if you weren’t looking (image from Street View)
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July 8, 2013 ‘hidden door on Finnygook Lane’ Jane Tims
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Best View: houses in Crafthole …
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I am having fun trying to understand painting with watercolors. I have always worked with oils or acrylic, but watercolors are quite different. I love that the colors have a mind of their own. If I allow the colors to go where they want to go, sometime the surprises are wonderful, sometimes, not.
I am trying to use less paint, more water. This improves transparency and gives a fragility to the painting.
I am trying to clean my brush well and to freshen the water more often. This prevents ‘muddiness’.
I am also trying to leave more white space. This provides white ‘color’ and space for adding color as the painting progresses.
Here are two attempts at painting houses in Crafthole. I include the original image so you can see my inspiration. As you can see, I used lots of artistic licence.
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In #1, I like the scaling of the houses, the houses in the background, the gardens, the pinkness of the wall, and the grey house … I don’t like the windows …
July 3, 2013 ‘houses in Crafthole #1’ Jane Tims
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In #2, I like the chimneys, the red door, and the background houses … I don’t like the windows however I think these houses have personality in their ‘lean’…
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July 3, 2013 ‘houses in Crafthole #2’ Jane Tims
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houses in Crafthole (image from Street View)
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Now, what do you think of that door in the side of the hill ??????
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
farms in hidden valleys 7-3
Tregantle Fort near Freathy (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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Gradually, I am learning the layout of this part of the Cornwall coast. The uplands are mostly devoted to wild land or agriculture (grazing or crops) …
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cattle in a field near Freathy (image from Street View)
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The houses are either along the coast, at the very edge, or in the treed valleys that peek at intervals from the countryside …
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fields and valleys … a reservoir in the distance (image from Street View)
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Driving down into these valleys, I find farmsteads, made up of clusters of buildings and usually associated with water …
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farmstead in a valley (image from Street View)
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ponds at a valley farm (image from Street View)
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Cattle must stray into the roads on occasion. The entryway of the house below is guarded by a ‘Texan Gate’ or ‘cattle stop’. I am familiar with these from my days in Alberta. Cattle will not cross these gates because of the spaces in the surface, but cars can cross quite easily …
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a Texan Gate (image from Street View)
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Best View: the Cornwall coast stretching before me …
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July 2, 2013 ‘Cornwall coast’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
a holiday by the sea 7-2
a view along the coast near Freathy … note the houses down the hill nearer the ocean (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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My virtual biking trip along the Cornwall coast has me totally enchanted. I love the rugged landscape, the hills (huff, puff), and the huge variety of wildflowers …
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a view of the rugged coast and the yellow Gorse growing along the road (image from Street View)
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Today’s drive along the Military Road showed me that the people love to spend recreational time along this coast. There are vacation communities …
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a vacation community (image from Street View)
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Homes and cottages were downhill from the road. I am sure you could step from the road to one of these rooftops!
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a view of houses along the road (image from Street View)
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The cottages were small, not much bigger than our own cabin …
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cabins overlooking the ocean (image from Street View)
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Best View: acres of Gorse along the road …
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a ‘learning-watercolor’ note: the first painting below was done on 140 lb paper made for watercolor. The second painting was done on sketch paper of much lighter weight. The second painting is wrinkled (see dark shadows in the left and right margins). This is called ‘cockling’ and can be prevented by stretching lighter papers before painting. I tape the edges of my paintings on a hard surface prior to painting.
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July 3, 2013 “Military Road, Cornwall coast’ Jane Tims
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July 3, 2013 ‘Gorse’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2013 Jane Tims
