Cottages and Cliffs: Painting on the North Yorkshire Coast at Staithes

When my artist friend Greta Vilidaite and I were invited to join Chris Slater and ‘a few others’ on a painting trip to the beautiful fishing village of Staithes, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse. Read on to see what we got up to and some of the brilliant people we got up to it with…

Me, beside the beck, in the drizzle, painting a boat and as happy as a seagull with a bag of chips.

My interest in plein-air (open air) painting dates back to my early sketches of the farm where I grew up, and was reignited during the first lockdown of 2020, when I discovered how much I could learn by painting outside. Painting in the landscape is full of challenges, from the constantly changing light, to the effects of the weather and the sheer overwhelm of subjects to paint. But that’s what makes it so good too!

My painting kit by the beck

The rewards of plein-air painting are numerous; you learn to work fast, be decisive, find a shorthand to describe light, depth, textures and shapes and you get to spend time in some amazing locations doing the thing you love.

Another bonus is that plein air painting can be done with friends. I don’t mind painting on my own but with friends you get to ‘talk shop’ and share ideas with like-minded souls and I really feel I have found my community through these days out. All these connections started on the social media platform Instagram and spread through meeting other artists on location. It is all wonderfully egalitarian, old and young, men and women, professionals and keen amateurs. So when Chris Slater, member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and one of the most prolific painters you’ll ever meet, invited Greta (and she invited me) to Staithes we knew we would be in for a great trip.

Sunday, arriving in Chapel Yard

We rented a little fisherman’s cottage in Chapel Yard for our stay and I arrived first, after the long and dramatic drive over the rugged North York Moors. Greta arrived soon after and as soon as we had unloaded and parked our cars back at the top of the village, we went out to paint by the beck.

‘Afternoon Light By Staithes Beck’

I borrowed Greta’s half-French easel for this one, as I’d left my tripod in the car. This worked well but my normal pochade box is much easier to carry around, especially up those hills!

The late afternoon sun was low on the hills behind us and throwing the buildings beside the beck into sharp relief against the glow of the distant headland. It was all beautiful and it was good to make a start but I felt like this was just a warm up.

Night fell and we were full of anticipation for the following day.

Monday morning, sunshine!

Bright and early, we were up and out the next morning exploring the village and wondering where to paint.

Pausing to admire a painting by the inimitable David Curtis in The Staithes Gallery window, I noticed his unmistakeable silhouette reflecting in the glass as he walked up to greet us. After a quick discussion about tide times and weather forecasts, we three set off with all our kit, up the steep Cowbar Bank to paint the vertiginous view of the village way below. I really liked how the sun was grazing the tree tops on the hill opposite while the rooftops remained in shadow. But the whole scene was incredibly complicated and with the light changing fast I could only catch an impression of it all in the two hours we were there.

I had bumped into David the evening before, just outside our cottage and discovered that he owns the cottage next door to ours. David and I have met on many paint outs in recent years and although he is widely recognised as one of the country’s best landscape painters, he is also one of the most generous, kind and encouraging people I have had the pleasure to know. This happy morning spent painting this incredible view, in David and Greta’s easy company, was a real highlight among the many memorable moments of this trip.

Greta and I had only discovered a few days earlier that as well as David, the ‘few others’ Chris had referred to included a reunion of many of the esteemed plein-air painting group *The Northern Boys. Descending the bank to ground level we met several of them at work on and around the footbridge over the beck.

Meeting the Northern Boys

Rob Pointon was doing something complex with the view up the beck and it was fascinating to see his painting in the location that inspired it. It all made perfect sense seen through his eyes, but how he exaggerates and yet retains convincing perspective is mind boggling! Similarly Norman Long was pushing the boundaries of colour and his painting glowed in the sunshine as if lit up from within. (Check out their Instagram pages to see more).

Looking across the beck with David Curtis at work below me on the rocks

Inspired by these painters’ fearlessness I took an oblique angle on the foot bridge and its bushy crown of bright yellow and pink flowers growing out of its sturdy plinth. Sadly, I wasn’t very happy with this one – and despite some strenuous re-working back in my studio it ended up wiped off by the Rag of Doom.

Painting number three…

After a quick sandwich we headed over to paint the afternoon view out towards the harbour. I took a more conventional approach to this composition and liked the shape of the rising water slipping between the dark banks on each side and reflecting the sun-bleached cliffs of the headland beyond. We went back to the cottage mid-afternoon to recharge with a cup of tea.

There was just enough time for one more painting before we were due for dinner with the others at The Captain Cook. This time we trekked up the narrow but picturesque Church Street and looked down it towards the bright sea in the distance. I had hoped the small scale of this panel, just 7” x 5”, might mean I could finish it in the short time we had but again this one would need a lot more work later. We had definitely earned our supper and it was great to get to know the others a bit better over fish and chips and a glass or two of something cold.

‘Church Street View’

Tuesday brought rain…

We woke up to the sound of rain gushing over the gutter of the house opposite and decided to wait for a while before heading out.

As soon as the deluge had eased to a fine drizzle we set off in waterproofs, armed with umbrellas, to join Chris Slater and Julian Grainger beside the beck where the tide was almost fully out.

Willie Wright’s Double Ender (note the group of painters gathering on the bridge - we made quite a crowd)

I focussed on this pretty little ‘double ender’ boat resting on the river bed and looking cheerful with its bright citrus coloured fenders and blue stripes. The current owner of the boat came along and told us about its history and corrected my motorists’ grasp of sea faring terms (apparently boats are moored not parked…) Anyway, we heard all about its previous owner Willie Wright, a local character who sadly drowned in the harbour some years ago. So the title of this painting is a little nod to him.

After lunch back at the cottage, the rain lifted and we set off to paint in the harbour. It was quite bright and we were hopeful we’d have time to complete another painting. It was all going well and we had a happy interlude playing fetch with a very enthusiastic collie who brought us a stick to throw. This isn’t the local internet sensation Milo the Fetch King, who I met the next day, but he was just as friendly and had that intense charm typical of his breed. We were also joined briefly by artist Andrew Moodie who had been pastel drawing further along the beach with David Allen, another pastels artist, both retreating from the increasingly heavy drizzle.

It was pretty much all downhill from there, the rain became harder to ignore and despite our best efforts with the umbrellas we couldn’t keep our kit dry. There can be nothing quite so demoralising for a painter as trying to use a rain-wet brush to stick slimy oil paint to a drizzle spattered panel. So we caved in and trudged back to the cottage with everything sodden and our paintings half-finished. After a break and change of clothes, we headed out to meet some of the others in The Royal George, where we all had a well-earned drink and swapped stories about the day.

In the excellent company of L-R Julian Grainger, David Curtis, Steven Smith, Yours Truly, Greta Vilidaite, Ian Layton, Chris Slater and Rob Pointon. I can’t imagine how we ended up sat in this particular corner though…

Wednesday, warm but windy…

Greta left for home first thing in the morning and I got my things packed ready to go later and headed down to the harbour.

Unable to leave an unfinished task unfinished, I wiped off the disastrous painting from the previous afternoon and used the board for a second attempt at the view of the Nab from the harbour.

Thankfully the weather was fine and dry and the bright colours on the receding tide contrasted pleasingly with the earthy sandstone of the cliffs. My only problem was the incredibly strong gusts of wind that threatened to blow my easel (and me!) into the sea. It also whipped up the loose sand onto my palette and the wet painting, which brought an authentic pebble-dashed effect to the work.

I had to paint with one hand holding everything down at all times, with no chance of adding any details to my quivering board. I did most of this painting with one large flat brush and just tried to capture the character of the whole scene – which may be why it’s one of the most confident looking paintings I did on this trip. It was an enormous stroke of luck that when a gust of wind lifted the painting out of my hand as I was packing up, it landed face up in the sand. Phew!

‘A Gusty Day in Staithes Harbour’

‘Perched by the Beck at Staithes’

And finally, I walked back to the beck to join the others in a more sheltered spot. There I painted one last view looking up the valley where a house perches at the water’s edge with a balcony on pillars that stands in the river. It has been painted by many other artists before me but I’m always interested to see what I can do with a familiar subject. I think this one really captures the whole trip for me, it’s a classic Staithes view painted in the amiable company of my fellow painters and all of us enjoying the sunshine and friendship.

It was time to say goodbye to these three, Ian, David and Chris who were taking a rest on this bench as I painted, looking very much like the three Yorkshire men, Compo, Foggy and Clegg from Last of the Summer Wine.

After saying all my goodbyes, I left for home that afternoon with a boot full of new work and head full of happy memories. All of the paintings would need a bit more work back in my studio, but they all capture something of this beautiful place and my happiness in being there. We all said we must do it again – I really hope we do.

These are all the finished paintings and they are available in my new On The Yorkshire Coast collection. Please click on each image to see more details.

*Meeting the Northern Boys. Over the few days of our trip we met not only the artists I have mentioned here but also Adam Ralston, Andrew Farmer and Haidee Jo Summers. If you don’t know their work I highly recommend you check them all out.