Hessle Foreshore

 Hessle Foreshore

“Where Sky and Water Meet”, oil on wooden panel, 30cm x 40cm

Hessle lies on the north bank of the Humber. The foreshore has excellent views of North Lincolnshire and the Humber Bridge. To get to the shoreline I walked through a small wood where I spotted the view above. I first made a watercolour sketch and then an oil painting (above) on wooden board.

Humber Bridge from Jean’s Walk, Hessle, north bank, water colour sketch

Although the images are very similar, for the watercolour sketch I let the white of the paper shine through. However, working on the wooden board I painted a ground of burnt umber first and then worked on top with colour. I had not used wooden boards very much before and so the painting can be regarded as an experiment. The backgrounds do make a significant difference to the outcome and resulting atmosphere. The watercolour painting is brighter, whilst the oil painting on wood is more "mellow". I used the oil paint very thinly to exploit the smoothness of the surface.

As will be seen from my next few posts, I spent some time exploring the foreshore at this point and the equivalent site on the south bank near Barton Upon Humber.