The exhibition of the paintings opened early in May. The little room at Chantry House Gallery is like the room of requirement in Harry Potter. My last exhibition in 2022 (10 paintings) fitted perfectly. This exhibition (26 paintings) also fits perfectly.
But 26 – that’s a years worth of paintings. And there were more I wanted to paint; I just ran out of room and time.
So picking up where I left off. Drawing in Staithes.
These sketches:
became these paintings!
Safe Harbour – Staithes.
Staithes Beck
and then my friend Nina sent me a lovely photo she’d taken on an evening walk in the autumn. I never usually paint from JUST a photo (sketches with photos for back up maybe) but the image was so lovely, and I have vivid memories of walking through Staithes village at night with my family (the weekend we stayed in the haunted house!) that it didn’t quite seem like cheating. I know what Staithes would have felt like on an evening like this, and it’s the feeling that counts. The result was this:
Staithes at Night
Up and out of Staithes (though the field that always makes me think of the ‘Black!’ sketch from the Fast show) and on to Runswick Bay. This is a painting I didn’t do, but I will in the future. I can’t work out whether to paint the village from the beach looking North, or the resting boats at the far end of the beach. Perhaps I’ll do both.
I love the run along the beach from Sandsend to Whitby. It’s wild enough (big waves!) and empty enough to feel dramatic before the crowds of Whitby. This is an older painting. It’s one of my favourites.
Spindrift – Whitby (2022)
I’ve long wanted to paint the beach huts (I love beach huts) but could never work out how to do it without including the ugly extention of the Whitby Pavillion. It looks like a 1980’s car park and spoils the view entirely. I sheltered from the cold behind the huts and found the perfect view – with them framing the piers and the sea.
My friend’s daughter apparently calls them The Rainbow Houses, which gave me the painting’s title.
The Rainbow Houses
I was very kindly offered a night in a flat in the Royal Crescent by nice people that buy my work. The views from it were spectacular out across sea, and I had every intention of including it in a BIG composite image of Whitby. They ended up on the cutting room floor unfortunately. My previous post about a painting not behaving explains the painters block. Instead, I ended up with this:
Whitby Whale Bones
My running girls joined me in Whitby so that night there was company, pizza and wine.
Looking out of the window the next morning we saw that everyone below was wearing big coats and that the sea was wild. They’d left Hebden Bridge in a heat wave so I felt guilty.
Despite the cold, they were incredibly patient whenever I wanted to stop and draw something. They ran back and forth to stay warm.
I love this lighthouse.
We all bounded along the cliff tops to Robin Hoods Bay where I drew these:
Nancyann took me back to Robin Hoods Bay a few weeks ago on a sunnier day, so I was able to paint warmer pictures.
‘Sunlit – Robin Hoods Bay’ (left) and ‘The Square – Robin Hoods Bay’ (right)
We ran on to Ravenscar to see seals. I began a painting but didn’t finish it. I will! I sat on a bench to draw and the girls all ran too close to the edge. I chose not to look.
We ran back for a night at Boggle Hole YHA (I love Boggle Hole! Another planned painting I didn’t execute).
We set off in the morning towards Scarborough. Something happened to the colours as we approached Scarborough. So far they had all been greys and baltic blues – soft, cool colours. Yellow started to creep in: gorse, buttercups and then almost luminous fields of oil seed rape. I stopped to draw this.
Gorse at Long Nab
There are several places where you get these steep, stepped paths, where a beck runs out to sea. One of the reasons I wanted to run the whole route was to see the places in between; The little bays, the pretty paths in between the tourist traps.
Running along Scarborough’s North Bay I saw this!
I loved the reflection in the sand of more rainbow houses:
North Bay – Scarborough
After eating bad scones and pints of tea, Gill and I said goodbye to the others and dumped our packs at the hotel. NOT THIS HOTEL! One distinctly less grand several streets away from the beach.
The Grand – Scarborough
We didn’t have far to go on our last day, and we woke up to blue skies! Legs out and sunglasses on. I wish I’d had more time to draw the south side of Scarborough as it’s very pretty. Formal gardens and then cool bluebell woods as we ran back down to the cliff top paths. There was a paraglider who gave me a cheery wave as we approached Filey:
There was such a difference in the light on that last day. Cliffs so dark that the gulls stood out bright white against them. And sea and sky so blue!
I knew that the Cleveland Way finished on Filey Brigg, but I didn’t know what the brigg was until I got there (intentionally, I didn’t find out). I think I’d envisioned some kind of pier. The reality was so much more dramatic. The sea was big and churning on one side of it, and quiet, gently lapping on the other.
The paintings stop here because the Cleveland Way path stops here.
Filey Brigg
But I would really love to go back and explore Filey properly. Gill and I took our shoes off and stood in the sea to drink the very best cup of strong Yorkshire tea. I’m on the right. By the end of the week I was 2.5 toenails down.
They’re lovely aren’t they – my running girls? Humouring me, getting cold to the bone for me. They all came to the exhibition opening (unrecognisable without the lycra) AND they’re letting me take them out again next month. I have a significant birthday so we’re running the Northumberland Coastal Path. I am very lucky to have such daft friends. xxx
My exhibition ‘Painting the Cleveland Way’ is on at Chantry House Gallery until July 12th 2026.
Please go and see it! You need to see them all together. The gallery is open Thursdays to Sundays.
Or you could walk it (or run it) – I’d definitely recommend that. Details are here https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/trails/cleveland-way/
Leave a Reply