Today it’s a medium sized painting, two foot square, called ‘Grasses
in the Dunes’. The dunes in question are
in East Lothian, and in the distance, barely discernable through the grasses,
is a little island called Fidra with its lighthouse (and is mentioned in a song
by Marillion, prog rock fact fans!).
Here's the photo that was the basis for the painting.
You can read more about the lighthouse here The Beautiful Island of Fidra and here Wikipedia.
It’s nice to be able to use the paint to get the texture of
the grasses, which is done using a lot of liquin to make the oil paint quite
loose, and a longhaired watercolour brush.
Then I scratch into the surface to draw in the stiff stems of the sea
grasses. There’s a nice contract between
this texture and the flatness of the broad salmon pink tones of the beach.
Here’s the Google Maps link – there’s no road there, but you
can take a look at the general area: Link to viewpoint for painting
