Surf's Up on the Easel

Having got a vague but very distant peek st the sea in Hooksiel, it’s back to my Oman pics for some pastel inspiration!  We've got wild waves splashing around rocks here! 

When I started painting the sea in 2017 I was really concerned about not capturing the fabulous movement and splashing so having done a couple of sea paintings I stopped. The sea doesn’t give up her secrets easily, think of all those sunken ships and treasure; what the sea takes, she loves to keep hold of. While standing at the easel she whispers in my ear ''you’re not even close to capturing me!''. 

Capricious, fickle, calm, dangerous, quixotic and mesmerising are the qualities I associate with the sea and in 22 years on the Scottish coast she has shown me every one of those sides of her character and still I am fascinated. 

I could watch waves (and do watch waves) for hours on holiday! The exhilarating rush as the water crashes in and the crackling noise it makes when pulling back are music to my ears. Having said that I'm always frightened of falling in (I need a waterproof mobile!), the falling in thing comes completely naturally to me. 

Having said that the sea doesn’t return what she takes, she did in fact drag me in and spit me out on one occasion. On holiday in the Seychelles, I was trying to do an elegant exit from the waves, a little similar to a podgy version of Ursula Andress in Dr No. Thing was there was a deep area of shingle just before the beach, my lower legs got stuck in it and a huge wave broke over me, dragging me out of the shingle and rolling me onto the shore. It was a struggle to get up while being rolled around, my bikini top was all askew and the bottoms no longer protecting my rather large modesty ! More Ursula Undress you could say, still hope that apart from my hubby no one else saw me. 

Still, it didn’t stop my determination to capture the waves in a painting.......! 

Whisper as you will, I may not even be close ...... but it won’t stop me trying.