'Afternoon Sun on the Cliffs' acrylic on box canvas 50x20cm step by step

I saw this amazing view when out for a walk at the world famous Crown Mines at Botallack in Cornwall. These have been even more famous now as they were recently used in the BBC's adaptation of Poldark, although on the particular day we visited there was no sign of Aiden Turner, sigh! 
I started off by under-painting the whole canvas a deep yellow to give the painting that warm glow of looking into the sunlight

I then drew my outline roughly in pencil and started to block in the colours thinly in watered down acrylic paint. It really helps to lay those colours down roughly and quickly at the beginning to give a sense of how the picture will feel at the end.

A close up of my roughly laid down colours of the sea...

It is usually best when working on an acrylic land/sea scape to work from background  forwards so I always start with the sky. This sky was particularly tricky as I wanted the viewer to be looking directly into the sun. I had to make sure that the sun looked dazzling and build up the fair weather clouds over the blue of the sky

Next I needed to concentrate on the cliffs right in the background, making sure that they were light enough to convey distance... 

I tried to make them as light as I thought they would be but i knew I could go back later if I needed to with a very thin wash of white and water if they were still too dark in comparison to the foreground.
I then worked on the greenery of the nearest cliffs. I tried to show the sunlight catching certain areas and throwing others into shade...

I really enjoyed painting the tiny silhouettes of the tin mine ruins on the horizon! I used ultra small brushes for painting miniatures to do this.

Next I started working on the cliffs and rocks in the foreground. I was looking particularly at painting the contrasting deep shade and the light glistening on the top of the wet stone

It was now time to turn my attention to the sea. Here is a detail of the waves breaking onto the rocks....

Once again, whilst painting the sea I really had to concentrate on getting the contrasting light and shade just right. I used thin washes of darker blue to indicate the waves in the distance, and thicker mixes of white and yellow to show that low sunlight reflecting on the water.
Finally I built up the detail of the Crown Mines right in the foreground. I love panting textured, stone walls, its a real pleasure of mine!

The finished painting.
The original has sold but prints are available from my website, click here