Original artwork description:

“Birkdale Sands” is an acrylic on canvas painting 152cmsWx84cmsHx3cmsD. The canvas is of exhibition quality and is stretched over a strong custom made frame supported by steel corner braces. Please see the pictures. The painting is part of an ongoing series of works related to observations of light reflected on water. Birkdale beach is situated on the Sefton coastline in Southport, North West U.K. I walk the sands every morning throughout the year. It is a beautiful coastal landscape. Birkdale sands are part of a nature reserve and remain protected from too much human intervention. The early morning light is stunning as it accentuates the detail of the tides. The painting tries to capture the atmosphere and dramatic effects of light on water. I am grateful to local photographer Alexander Marks who takes photographs of this landscape whilst walking the same coastline. Alex provided me with several images of the beach which provide the inspiration for this painting. When I make paintings about locations they are not intended to replicate a moment, as a camera might capture. My paintings are about atmospheres. I have to know each location to gain a sense of its character. Here the character is defined by the sense of space and by the grace and power of nature. I build the paintings in layers of thin, transparent washes of colour combined with and overworked with impasto applications. I use brushes, knives and cloths. I let the paint take its own course. I like the process of painting, so I purposefully leave in the traces of its behaviour such as the marks of knife and brush and the stream and trickle of diluted pigment. I respect and work with the nature of paint. I also use crackle paste to bring textural qualities to the painting. This substance creates hairline cracks in the applied paint giving the surface of the painting and ‘aged’ and fragmented appearance. Please see the photographs. I am inspired by the work of contemporary artists such as Barbara Rae and Sandy Brown, modernists such as Gillian Ayres and John Hoyland and the shifting effect of light and colour of the Impressionists that seeks to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve photographic depiction. The painting is shipped in a heavy duty, custom card crate.

Materials used:

Acrylic on canvas

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