Houses through trees.

Houses through trees. 7"x5" Oil on board.

Affordable art at nigelmasonart@yahoo.co.uk 

It was a lovely day yesterday - sunny but a bit cold. Time to get out after a long winter and have a look round.
Our coastal town nestles in a wooded valley. you can't get in or out of the town without encountering hills. The Victorians built amongst the hills, seemingly at random and the trees grew up around the houses. Houses nestling amongst trees is a common sight and one which I never tire of.
The Victorian builders used two main type of brick to build with, They were manufactured locally - 12 miles away. One type was a blond, buff colour that reflects sunlight and looks almost white. The other brick is this kind of ochre, mustard colour that has a real glow to it when lit by the sun.
The houses themselves are incredibly ornate with stripes of orange brick and tiles running around the walls, fancy woodwork along the gables and around the bays, ornate chimneys and coping tiles, patterned brickwork around the Gothic arched windows. Many of the houses have verandas, especially if they have a sea view, accessible through french windows, that are girt with wrought iron balustrades. The railings are hung with baskets of flowers in the summer augmenting the decorative effect.
A hundred years of salty breezes, cold winters and hot summers takes it's toll on the buildings and some are showing their age. Some say its run down and bad for the holiday trade, I personally like these patiners and flakey paint - its a very stylish shabby chic.

Stopper

Stopper. 7"x5" oil on panel.

Available affordable art at nigelmasonart@yahoo.co.uk

Our house is full of things -strange and quirky things got from I know not where. This is one of those things. Its a bottle stopper (a bit redundant in this house!). Its carved out of wood and painted by hand and, as you can see, depicts a man and woman. What you can't see is that at the back there is a lever that ,when depressed, makes the man doff his hat and the figures heads turn to each other and kiss!

It looks like it was made in the late 50s or early 60s, probably in Germany.

Great to paint!

Oil Decanter

Oil Decanter. 7"x5" oil on panel.

Available at nigelmasonart@yahoo.co.uk 

This is todays Daily Painting.

Olive oil always reminds me of summer and food and eating outside. My partner and I have been discussing the summer timetable and what that might include - can't wait!

Model Cars

Model cars. 7"x5" Oil on board.

Available affordable art at nigelmasonart@yahoo.co.uk 

This painting is of three model cars that I have picked up over the years. I'm not a collector of models or a dealer but occasionally I see something that takes my fancy for whatever reason and if it costs no more than 20p I buy it. I have no idea if the models are worth anything - they are chosen because of colour, shape, texture or out of sentiment.
Sometimes I look them up on the net and can be suprised.
The red Rolls Royce, for instance is a cheap plastic model with "made in Hongkong" NO 103 embossed on the underside. It was made as a copy of a Dinky model in the '60s - it's worth about £9.00!

The Angel

The Angel. Oil on board, 7"x5"

Available at nigelmasonart@yahoo.co.uk 

The sun was shining this morning - a rare occurrence this winter! This is the view from my window - looking left at the top of the street. 

This part of the North Devon coast is very hilly and this church stands atop one of the hills. I have to look out of an upstairs bay window to get this view. Luckily my living room is upstairs - my house being an old Victorian street house with a shop (my studio and gallery) on the ground floor and bedrooms on the upper floors.

In front of the church a bronze Angel stands on top of a column that commemorates the War dead. In front of the Angel a small path leads down to a series of steps that in turn lead down to the main road that runs through the town. Shops line the road on both sides and there's a lot of hustle and bustle with people shopping, delivery vans unloading goods, people going to and coming from work, parents taking their children to school - the town gets even busier in summer with the holiday trade. 

The angel must have witnessed some changes in the 100 years or so that it has been there but not as many as the church which dates from the 13th century.  

Piece of cake

Piece of cake. Oil on canvas panel. 7"x5"

Available (£30.00) at nigelmasonart@yahoo.co.uk 

My partner (Mary Jane) made this cake for her daughters 21st - it's a citrus cake with almonds. I think it's the nicest cake I've ever eaten in my life (and I've eaten some cake!). This is the last slice and it resides on a plate called "Blue Domino".

Blue Domino crockery were made by T.G. Green, a Cornwall firm, in 1934. The white dots were made by sticking individual card dots on the white slip - applying the blue glaze and removing the spots before firing. All of this done by hand.

Is there anything nicer than eating a handmade cake off a handmade plate in celebration of a loved one? Other than painting it?

Path to the beach

Path to the beach. Oil on canvas board. 7"x5"

Available at nigelmasonart@yahoo.co.uk 

This winter has been wet - really wet - not much chance to get out to paint. But last weekend the sun came out and this is the result of a walk around the local beaches with my partner.

The building on the left is a disused cafe that served the beach in front of it. There's a lawned terrace in between the cafe and the beach where you would have sat to enjoy your tea and take in the view of the harbour. It may return to former prosperity - you never know! 

On the beach itself there is a kiln for smelting lime. Boats must have brought in the raw material to be processed in the kiln for use in building.

The lane at this point splits into two and the path to the right leads to another beach - much bigger than this one. In Victorian times the beach was used to make ropes for use on the fishing boats and sailing vessels. The virtually deserted path must, at one time, have  been a hive of industry. Workers would have walked down and back each day to work,  intermixing with horse drawn carts used to haul away the produce of the two beaches. How quiet it all is now!