Claire Moore

Snowdogs by the sea – Day two: Bonfire night

Day two: 9 hours of sketching and stalking Snowdogs.

For all my sketches, I’ve followed the urban sketcher manifesto, so there was no sneaking off to a warm café to touch up from photos. I’ve also put them straight down on the page in pen and wash, no pencil outlines or practice runs.

Feeling like the world needs a little love right now? A donation to a good cause, like Martlets Hospice or the Brighton Housing Trust , might help ease the pain.

8:50am They’ll never let you in to French connection dressed like that Horatio.

9:30am Ryuichi Sakamoto’s, ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’ plays on an endless loop in my mind. It could be the cold, but for the first time I think this might be madness. I can’t feel my hands.

10:20am Donatello staff eye me suspiciously, as they set out tables. I can’t feel my legs.

10:55am Lurking silently in the corner in the cosy Dome porch, I learn that this is the dog most people want to steal. It really is fluffy.

12:23pm Finally, a bench to sit on.

13:30 A heavy night on the town for Max

2:45pm Right here, right now.

3:40pm The wind blows rust in my face.

4:20pm Thanks to the nice woman who encouraged me to post these sketches online

5:00pm Pedestrians step on me in the twilight.

Many thanks to all the artists who gave their time to create these fabulous dogs.

More to follow…

© Claire Moore and cmoorelife, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Claire Moore and cmoorelife with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Snowdogs by the Sea – Day one: Halloween

By Claire Moore

8:15am It’s a doggy!

Thanks to Martlets Hospice and Wild in Art, you can’t walk down the street in Brighton and Hove at the moment, without the hearing excited shouts of SNOWDOG! SNOWDOG!’

After weeks of procrastination, the enthusiasm of the small people in my life, inspired me to commit to a long distance, urban sketchathon, to capture all 40-odd Snowdogs by the Sea before they go to their kennels on the 27th November.

If you enjoy these sketches, please make a donation to Martlets Hospice or the Brighton Housing Trust – it’s cold out there.

8:50am Just before the café door obscured the view…

Seagulls of the south, Seafront/Bristol Court West

10:00am A quiet moment

11:00am Didn’t know what time it was my face was odd odd odd…

Snowman and the Snowdog sand sculpture, Marina Square, Brighton Marina

11:45am Pit stop

Brighton Rock (Rocco,) Brighton Marina New Boardwalk

12:30pm Too darn hot!

Bone China, Brighton Marina, New Boardwalk

1:00pm GET DOWN FROM THERE NOW!

Patch - the unfinished quilt, Seafront/opposite New Steine

2:00pm The sight of this filled me with dread

3:00pm Small people dressed as witches, staring silently at you are unnerving

4:00pm Crimes against music on the pier

5:00pm No… get down … NOW!

9:00pm Using my palette from memory in the dark

Many thanks to all the artists who gave their time to create these fabulous dogs. Donate now! More to follow…

© Claire Moore and cmoorelife, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Claire Moore and cmoorelife with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Find me at the Artists Open Houses

By Claire Moore

Every weekend in May hundreds of houses, studios and venues open their doors for the Artists Open Houses festival. This free event has grown from modest beginnings 20 years back, to be one of the biggest in the country.

There is a vast, amount of work on display, providing a rare opportunity to shun mass production and stock up on something unique. You also get to waft through other peoples houses admiring the décor, gardens and in my case, lust after beautiful studio spaces.

This year I have some work on display at the fantastic Bailey and Alexander gallery in the new Arches on the seafront, opposite the West Pier. Number ‘1’ on the central trail. The arches have been renovated and now contain some great little boutique shops. Here’s what they used to look like, boarded up and unused, pre-demolition, on a misty Winters day.

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Why bother with Whitstable?

By Claire Moore

The Old Neptune pub, Whitstable

Why? Because it’s the finest place on the North Kent coast. Although, I will admit it’s the only place I’ve ever been to on the North Kent coast.

When I set out with the intention of sketching in Broadstairs, somewhere on the M2 I fell into a deep trance. I heard a ghostly rattle of oyster shells, the distant creek of beach hut doors, then a faint aroma of dead fish, and knew… Broadstairs would have to wait.

Mounds of empty Oyster shells rise out of the mist. Known as cultch, they are put back in the estuary, providing an ideal surface for the baby oysters to attach themselves to, helping to form new oyster reefs.

I last visited Whitstable about 10 years ago, arriving in a sleepy little fishing town and waking up to the mania of the Whitstable Oyster festival. The town has lots of hidden nooks and crannies, and some of the best bits are easy to miss, so use a map.

The sea looked so inviting on that trip, so I bought a hideous yellow speedo swimming costume from a bargain bin, only to find that the sea was ankle deep, even half a mile out.

Whitstable. Bring your own swimwear.

The cement factory. Something completely different. With beach huts.

To learn more about Whitstable, read Sarah Waters’ novel ‘Tipping the Velvet,’ there’s only a brief mention, but you may learn something new.

The Oyster festival is on between 25th and 31st July 2015.

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Colour swatch

By Claire Moore

How much is that doggie in the window? Adelaide Crescent. (Sorry pooch lovers, there isn’t really a dog in this picture, no matter how hard you look)

It’s February and it feels like it’s been dark forever! To combat all those winter blues, I decided to add a bit of Naples yellow and Permanent Rose to my palette.

These chaps must have been feeling the same, as they completely removed their windows to let in more light.

Seems a bit drastic, particularly with snow predicted. Still, those Regency enthusiasts know what they are doing.

If you are feeling a bit ‘grayscale’, I recommend taking a walk through Hanover. It has more colour than a Dulux swatch.

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Urban chill

By Claire Moore

After a frosty morning urban sketching in Hove, what you need is a comfy chair and a hot coffee.

Then you can feel your fingers and toes and do it all over again.

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I love Paris in the fall

By Claire Moore

View from the Dome of the Sacre-Coeur

I’ve only ever seen Paris in the depths of winter before, so this autumn adventure with my mum was the trip of a lifetime.

I wasn’t planning to sketch, but after the 300 steep steps up to the top of the Sacré-Coeur, mum’s coeur was ready for a decent sit down. Luckily, I am always prepared for a bit of plein air painting!

A memento I painted for mum, don’t tell her though as it’s a surprise…

It was surprisingly peaceful in the Dome, away from the swarming crowds below. I was able to peer over the edge, working quickly whilst ‘le petit train de Montmartre’ waited below.

My three top tips for Paris are:

If you have the luxury, save it for Autumn, after the schools go back.This has to be the most beautiful time of year to see the city.
Get the free Paris Metro app
Keep this essential blog post from Riana Lagarde available at ALL times. Although I found that there were more free pee’s than expected and Madame Pipi at the Sacre-Coeur has been replaced with an alarmingly chirpy attendant.

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I want to be a part of it

By Claire Moore

New York New York, I imagined it to be just like it’s pictured in Tony Sarg’s ‘Up and down New York’ but there were far fewer hats and there was no hurricane at the Flatiron Building.

The flatiron building

You’ll never get me on a clipper ship.

The Guggenheim. Shut on a Thursday.

Liberty’s behind

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The colour of fear

By Claire Moore

Porthminster beach, St Ives

St Ives Harbour – pen and ink

Be warned that there is a dark underworld of gull-gangs hanging out in St Ives.

They swig bootleg cider and place bets on whether tourist scalp has more protein than Cornish pasty. Then feed endlessly off both between 12 and 2pm every day.

My advice is NEVER sketch near someone eating a Cornish pasty in St Ives. Not unless you have a bucket and several heavy duty wet-wipes to clear up the mess. I know from experience.

So ferocious they mess with your brain

The intense lightning storms over the UK this week started here in the South West.

I would have loved to sketch them, but it’s hard to mix up a good ivory black when you are cowering behind the sofa!

St Ives Harbour

After all that drama, you might think those vivid colours were a result of adrenaline rush, but the light here is truly something else. Even a grim misty morning blazes with an eerie quality.

“The Island” from Barnoon cemetery

It’s not surprising that this landscape inspired an art movement.

I took a trip to Barnoon cemetery to find fisherman and self taught painter Alfred Wallis.

His grave is beautifully tiled by Bernard Leach. I was moved by this tribute to a man whose honest paintings, with their wacky perspective, inspired the early St Ives artists.