Thursday, 12 July 2012

Sunlit Mud, Brancaster Staithe

Oil on Board, 13 x 12 inches
 
I've been wanting to paint this subject from a photo I took a while back at Brancaster Staithe in Norfolk.  I liked the composition, peering over the saltwater-weathered posts and along the little creek to the T-junction, with a triangle of boats and one of the local fishermen walking out to the mussel beds.  Strong sunlight, low in the winter sky, lit up the edges of the boats and posts and the mud in the left foreground.
 
I enjoyed describing the mud with a lot of palette-knife work over the top of tacky paint, which is where fast-drying Alkyd Oils come into their own.  Lovely effects can be achieved, gliding the very loosely held knife across the underlayer, sometimes dark over light and other times light over dark to get that gorgeous glistening mud look.
 
I'm also entering this one for the RSMA exhibition via the new digital pre-submission, where your work is judged to be suitable for inclusion in the final viewing for acceptance next month.
 

3 comments:

  1. As they say in Yorkshire (but not Norfolk) - a right stonker. In Lincs we say it's a belter. An Australian would say it's a real beaut, fair dinkum.
    The exhibition at the church the other week was pretty good too!
    Andrew

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    1. Thanks Andrew. DC once said that a painting of mine he particularly liked was a wanger, or at least I think that's what he said......
      Did Karen get her paintings past him into the Docaster exhibition?

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    2. In Norfolk, of course, they would say it's bootiful...

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