Day 19 - Ocean Curls

 

Acrylic on board 16cm x 16cm

Below is another excerpt from my book "Grabbing the Muse by the Throat".

Sunday was upon me and yet again it was my last day to paint. I painted an ocean-scape from a photo I’d taken the day before while walking along the coast. I’d had my camera with me in the hope of getting a good shot of some waves for painting reference. As luck would have it the waves were so perfect and tubular I could practically hear the pounding intro of a Beach Boys song. Having begun walking a little more regularly I found it doubled well as a means of scouting out good painting subjects. 

 

The painting only took around an hour and a half to complete. I was thrilled – and somewhat shocked – that finally, a painting had actually lived up to my wild optimism. The elusive loose style I was after finally came through. I’d used a small 15cm x 23cm (6 x 9 inch) canvas covered board, and laid the paint on rather thick so the brush strokes could be seen. I was frolicking with excitement and christened it Perfect Conditions. It was a far cry from painting on location, but there was still something organically lovely about creating a picture of a scene I had just enjoyed in the flesh the day before.

 

Perfect Conditions 2012