Pink Sky Behind the Lighthouse

Living in London can sometimes give you a very urban experience and nature and a sense of the land can feel distant. Coming from Newcastle the north east coast offers an opportunity to stand at the water's edge and feel the elements up close, the wind, the rain, the smells, the sounds...St Mary's lighthouse at Whitley Bay plays an important part in my collected memories of the North East and this storm riddled 'memory' was painted from my house in London.

Red Line Above the Water

I've recently embarked on a set of about 20 small paintings where sky, sea and land divide each painting into 3 zones. This will be an exercise in colour and also discipline where I limit  myself to a strict theme of using the 3 zones in a realistic yet abstract format. This set of three paintings (tryptich) are part of the same project, in this case I have been applying the paint and then using a cloth to take off the surplus paint, this has created thin layers of colour and detail. At one point I scraped a thin layer of red paint with the help of a ruler along the 'horizon', hence the title.