En plein air painting at Yellowcraig Beach, Scotland

It was a very brave move to face the fresh North Sea air on Yellowcraig beach for a spot of en plein air painting this week.

I repeat, on a beach.

In Scotland.

In January.

You can almost get a sense of how cold it was from from my red cheeks and nose in the photo above.

En plein air, if you’re not familiar with the French term, literally translates as ‘in the open air’ and refers to painting outdoors.

I’d only ever worked en plein air in my sketchbook and on paper before this week as the logistics always seemed a bit complicated. How do you carry all your materials to your chosen spot, how much prepping do you do beforehand such as mixing paints, how do you deal with changing weather?

What if your work blows away and you’re left running down the beach after it? I had visions of this happening to me. Let’s face it, it probably will happen at some point in my life. I’m sure it’s happened to all the best artists. I like to think there are various masterpieces blowing around the globe, travelling on the wind. I digress.

Upon arriving to Yellowcraig beach near North Berwick, the winter tide was too high and ferocious to consider painting on the small stretch of sand so I moved into the dunes, the height allowing for better views along the coast.

I used my jars and tubes of paint as a weight on the canvas so it wouldn’t move in the wind before pouring my usual blue and white tones onto the canvas and blending with a palette knife. I didn’t force any shapes or forms, instead allowing myself to be carried by the elements - I was more interested in exploring the process rather than creating a finished piece during this session.

Once I had a few layers down, my plan was to let the paint dry and watch the sun set whilst sipping on tea from my flask. Unfortunately, my flask had not kept the tea warm so we had to grab a cuppa from nearby Archerfield Walled Garden before it closed.

Now the painting is back with me in my studio, I don’t think there is much more to add to it as I want to keep the energy of the en plein air experience.

I’ll update the blog, social media and my shop when complete.

Until then, take a look at the video below to get a better sense of my painting setup and process. And yes, I have managed to get the paint off my coat.

Scroll through the images below for more photos of my studio for the day!

All images are taken by me apart from the final photo which is a drone shot by Alba Media, who I have been working with over the past 12 months to document my life as an artist.