PAINTING STORIES

Saundersfoot Explored

By Eloise Govier

Saundersfoot is a large village in Pembrokeshire and I have three paintings depicting the village in my new collection ‘Towns and Other Stories’. Saundersfoot is a very popular seaside resort in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. My paintings The Saundersfoot Village, Saundersfoot and A Sunny day at Saundersfoot all capture views from the top of Wogan Terrace where you have glimpses of the harbour, the beach, and a direct view of the village going up the opposite hill. The Saundersfoot Village piece focuses on the houses, trees and gardens as the rise behind the heart of the village. Here are some details of the painting:

The painting is a large-scale piece in the collection and painted with brushes rather than the palette knife. Last summer, I visited Paris and came back very inspired. The works of Delaunay and Vlaminck at the Musée d’Orsay particularly inspired me to explore the application of paint with the brush. Bold rooftop stripes, vivid yellow rooftops to capture those rooftops that were reflecting the sun, and swirling-patterned foliage create a free, immediate and animated scene.

The Saundersfoot Village

The undercoat for the painting is a bright, strong red; flashes of the colour are visible across the surface of the painting. In some areas I have layered brushstrokes using a warmer red to create lines of movement and direction. Saundersfoot is the precursor to the above painting, it is a smaller piece on linen measuring 50cm x 40cm. The two paintings have very different colour palettes but the sturucture and form of the pieces is very similar. The Final piece featuring Saundersfoot is A Beautiful Sunny Day at Saundersfoot, it is the largest piece in the collection and one that takes the painterly brush-marks to a new level in my work.

A Beautiful Sunny Day at Saundersfoot

This piece offers a wide angle view of Saundersfoot, including the sea, coastline, harbour and rooftops. The vivid colours are unified by the lilac-blue undercoat which is an integral part of the painting and uniformly revealed across the canvas.