Pembrokeshire through Jill’s eyes: Coastal paths, harvest fields and changing light

Some places seem to call an artist back again and again.

For Jill, Pembrokeshire is one of those places. It is not difficult to understand why. The landscape has so many different moods: rugged cliffs, open fields, coastal paths, farm buildings, sea mist, summer light and the constant presence of weather moving in from the sea.

In Jill’s paintings, Pembrokeshire is never just one thing. It can feel bright and full of warmth, or wild and unsettled. It can be about the shape of fields in July, the dark edge of a cliff, the sound of seabirds, or the way sunlight catches a white roof on the skyline. Each painting offers a different encounter with the same part of the world.

That is what makes returning to a place so interesting. The landscape may be familiar, but it is never exactly the same twice.

Harvest fields and summer colour

In Pembrokeshire Harvest, Jill turns her attention to Carn Llidi, near St Davids, and the colours and shapes of the harvest fields in July. The painting has a strong sense of pattern and rhythm, with golden tones, greens and blues moving across the surface.

Pembrokeshire Harvest - Inspired by Carn Llidi near St Davids, Pembrokeshire Harvest captures the colours and shapes of July fields, bringing together warmth, pattern and the rhythm of the land.

It is not a literal view in the traditional sense. Instead, it feels like a response to the structure of the land: fields divided and shaped by use, colour shifting with the season, and the warmth of high summer held in the composition.

Pembrokeshire is often thought of first as a coastal place, but Jill’s paintings remind us that the land itself is just as important. The fields, farms and inland shapes are part of the character of the place too.

The drama of the coastal path

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path appears in several of Jill’s works, and it is easy to see why it appeals to her. A path gives structure to a painting. It leads the eye, creates movement, and suggests the experience of walking through the landscape rather than simply looking at it from a distance.

Path to St. Justinian was taken from a sketch on the coastal path, looking south from the lifeboat station towards Ramsey Island. Jill noted the constant noise and echo of seabirds, as well as the colour and texture of the rock strata. The painting is full of wild diagonals, giving it a strong sense of energy and movement.

Path to St. Justinian - Taken from a sketch on the coastal path looking south from the lifeboat station towards Ramsey Island, Path to St. Justinian is full of rugged rock strata, wild diagonals and the echo of seabirds.

This is Pembrokeshire at its most rugged: not soft or decorative, but alive with sound, weather, rock and sea.

Caerfai on High - A strong linear study of the cliffs above Caerfai Bay, drawn from the coastal path and shaped by the drama, height and raw structure of the Pembrokeshire coastline.

In Caerfai on High, Jill takes another elevated view of the coast. Based on drawings made from the coastal path above the bay, the work has a strong linear quality. The cliffs become shapes, angles and movement. It is less about describing every detail and more about capturing the force and structure of the place.

Buildings held in the landscape

Jill is often drawn to buildings that sit within the land rather than apart from it. In Pembrokeshire, cottages, farms and coastal buildings appear as part of the landscape’s rhythm.

Treginnis, Summer began with a sketch made in May 2021 of farm buildings on the skyline. The white roofs catch the sun, while dark gorse and green fields create contrast below. The painting has a clear summer brightness, but it is still grounded by the land around it.

Treginnis, Summer - Based on a May sketch of farm buildings on the skyline, Treginnis, Summer captures bright white roofs, dark gorse and the warmth of summer light in Pembrokeshire.

There is something very human in these buildings. They give the viewer a point of recognition, but they do not dominate the landscape. They belong to it.

Summer Holiday - A cottage clings to the Pembrokeshire cliff path in Summer Holiday, a quiet mixed-media work using blue, green and cadmium yellow to evoke warmth, simplicity and coastal memory.

Summer Holiday offers a more intimate version of this feeling: a cottage facing south, clinging to the cliff path in Pembrokeshire. With a limited palette of blue, green and cadmium yellow, the painting has a quiet simplicity. It suggests warmth, memory and the feeling of being somewhere slightly removed from everyday life.

Sea, mist and changing light

Not all of Jill’s Pembrokeshire paintings are bright with summer colour. Some are more atmospheric, shaped by mist, haze and changing weather.

Coast was developed from several sketches of the Pembrokeshire coastline, brought together into one painting. With its sea mist and early morning haze, it feels quieter and more abstract. The coastline is not pinned down too tightly. Instead, it becomes a memory of blue, light and atmosphere.

Coast - Developed from several sketches of the Pembrokeshire coastline, Coast brings together sea mist, early morning haze and a quiet, abstract sense of atmosphere.

Sun on Sea, by contrast, has more physical energy. Started en plein air on the coastal path between St Non’s and Solva, then finished in the studio, the painting carries the movement of cliffs and water. Painted on gessoed and textured board, it has a strong surface that suits the subject: rock, sea, light and motion all pressing against one another.

Sun on Sea - Started en plein air on the coastal path between St Non’s and Solva, Sun on Sea captures the energy of cliffs, water and light through acrylic on textured board.

These works show how much Pembrokeshire changes with the conditions. A place can feel entirely different depending on the hour, the weather, the season and the direction of the light.

Returning to the same place

When an artist returns to a landscape again and again, the work often becomes less about recording a view and more about understanding a place over time.

Jill’s Pembrokeshire paintings show coast, field, cliff, farm, mist and summer brightness. They are connected by location, but each one has its own mood. Some are full of colour and warmth. Some are more rugged and exposed. Others are quiet, hazy and reflective.

Together, they suggest an artist looking closely, walking familiar paths, noticing what has changed, and allowing each painting to find its own feeling.

Pembrokeshire, through Jill’s eyes, is not a single view. It is a landscape of contrasts — sea and field, shelter and exposure, stillness and movement, memory and immediate experience.

Perhaps that is why it continues to draw her back.