Beachcombing for sea glass

I was on the south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales last week, and had the pleasure of doing some beachcombing near Criccieth. The tide was extremely low (lowest I’ve seen it) giving great conditions for searching for sea glass. The beach is mercifully pretty much clear of plastics, and aside from tumbled bricks and pottery, is sand and shingle. Finding tumbled glass shards in amongst pebbles and slate chippings is tricky, but so rewarding. Here’s an arty shot of the two pieces I found before it started getting too dark to search…

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Commission: Castle Series, no. 2, Raglan

I’ve been painting again today – after I’d potted on my leeks… This time, I’ve gone for Raglan Castle, in Monmouthshire. You might note, in comparison to my painting of Caernarfon Castle yesterday, that the light is coming from the opposite direction. There is method in this madness – the paintings are to hang opposite each other on either side of the room. Thus, the light, and the shadows, will look as if they are from the same direction.

Ok, ok, it was a happy accident that I noticed the above before I started hanging the paintings. Now I will go back to my reference materials and check that the remaining four of the series are split 50/50 in light direction. It was one of those ‘oh no’ moments that turned into ‘well, of course, I meant to do that’ when no one was looking…

Raglan Castle painting

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