North West Painters

[Patrick Brennan]

Video Here

Our day out painting today (sunday 29th)  was an experance,our goal was to paint Dunluce castle on the north coast, and for a change the weather forcast was correct,  wet in the morning turning bright and breezy later. On the way we visited the White rocks area which is within site of Dunluce. The wind was quite strong blowing sand about, so we headed on to our target. The castle stands on the outer edge of an outcrop of cliffts, with a sheer drop into the sea. There is some good places to view it from, but unfortunitly today they where not safe to paint from. Further around the cost we stoped at Portballintrae, after traveling all this distance we decided that we where going to paint somthing. Fortunitly the waves where realy high and creshing on the rocks a real test. Along the shore front thers was an alcove which we thought would give shelter from the worst of the wind, well I set up the French easle, added the canvace, opened the paint drawer, turned around and whussh of it flew and spilt all the contents, and Niels tripod easle which had a bag tied to it went, so he tiyed on another bag, this did the trick, meanwhile I moved over to a fence and used the sholder strap  to tiye my easle to the fence this worked after a fashon. I had to use my pallet to hold the canvace steady so I could paint on it, and Niel at one point had to stand behind his reaching around to paint on the front. When the winds gusted the sand particals removed a layer of skin and if your painting was at the wrong angle it was coated in a fine dust giving your painting a texture. We stayed here for around an hour and a half thent went home.  I will post a video shortly. I think inspite of the conditions we had a good day.

[Plein Eire Administrator]

Hi Patrick,

I like the new logo for the north-west painters. Congrats to all who ventured out today.

I am contacting all Group Creators, such as yourself, to announce some changes to Groups on Plein Eire making them a bit more sophisticated than before.

Firstly, as Group Creator, you can add (or remove) one or more Group Administrators from your north west members to share the duties of running it. On your group page select 'Options' and 'Manage Group members' from the drop-down menu.  to select Group Administrators.

Secondly, it is possible to reverse the decision to have the group 'open' as opposed to 'by invitation'. Previously, once the group was set up, that was fixed for the duration of the group. Now it can be rescinded. Having said that, I strongly urge groups such as North West painters to remain 'open'. However, for groups like STAG, which has a formal membership procedure, annual subscriptions etc, it is possible to have membership by invitation only.

A third addition is the possibility to add a page. On Plein Eire, 'Pages' are really for reference information, such as your membership guidelines or perhaps an 'About Us' page. You can also use it for making a schedule of paint-outs or other events. Perhaps the most useful application would be to add a page for each venue you paint out at. It can contain useful information like how to get there, a google map reference, where to park, toilets, cafes etc. nearby or maybe a note if you found a spot sheletered from the wind. You can add one or two photos to your pages or a link to an album on Pix.ie.

In this way, your pages will build up into a valuable resource for anyone wanting to come to the NW and find good places to paint.

I notice you have an unused text box on your Group page. If you look at the SEPA page you will see Karen has made that into a summer schedule of paint-outs which is a good way to use that, too.

 

Hope these new additions help. Any questions or comments welcome.

[Patrick Brennan]

Thankyou Pauline for the Lift today hope you enjoyed the day.

[Patrick Brennan]

The north west artists had another succesful day out , We went to Stroove in co Donegal. Two members had what was the best of the day, after we left the weather turned nasty wind and rain. The beach was void of people, when we settled and got stuck in to the painting, when a bus stoped on the road and out poured aprox 25people, who were all carring what looked like painting gear, bags and tripods, they infact where a local camera club on there annual outing. Guess who became there subject of intrest, for a while.After 45 mins they left leving us alone again.

[Patrick Brennan]

Thanks Karen , it certinly put us to the test.

[Karen Scannell]

Brave souls!..there's dedication for ya!! Glad you all had a productive day also, and didn't let the wind beat ye!!