A Day in the Sun

Instead of staying at home yesterday and ...er, um wallowing (lol) I drove up to the Central Coast (a 95 km drive) to see B11 and his kids and spend the day at the beach.

The weather wasn't all that crash hot - misty rain all the way on the drive up but it cleared up although the sky was grey so off we went to one of the local beaches, Killcare.

Now I always take my painting gear whenever I go out, you just never know what you may see and yesterday was no exception. The seas were rough and the sky grey but it was beautiful. I took a pile of pictures to use as reference, there is a nature rock pool where lots of people take their children; at one point it was hard to find a clear spot in the water where there wasn't kiddies or parents.

Anyway then I did a couple of quick 10 min watercolour sketches to remind myself when I come to actually using the photos. It was a great day but I did get a little sun despite coating myself liberally in sunscreen.

On drive to the beach I spied a tree in someone's front yard and so on the way back to B11's I made him stop while I took a couple of quick photos. Hopefully it will turn into an artwork of some kind - painting or maybe quilted.....lol.

This tree was amazing, sadly on the way back when we stopped the sun wasn't shining as it had been and the colours weren't as stunning. The bark was a burnt orangey/red, and the tree twisted and turned it's way to reach the sun; it was enormous.

One of our many eucalypts. I think it was a Eucalyptus spathulata or Swamp Mallee but not 100% sure because I am no expert on gum trees - I just like them - I am probably 100% wrong ....lol.

I will have to go back and take more photos of it when I know the sun will be shining and in the right place to try and get that magnificent colour on film.

The other thing I learnt from the day is to put in a beach umbrella whenever I put my art gear in the car.

Then later in the day I was looking through a catalogue from a toy shop and spied this great sun shelter, 3m square and 1.8m high. It would be perfect for me - I could spread gear, my chair; have any number of guests and we would all be safe from the sun and able to enjoy the day.....lol.

So today off I went and purchased one - bought it home and put it up (just so I knew one person could do it) and now I want to go off somewhere and use it for real!