Sand Dunes and Salty Air

In this painting I have tried to conjure up the feeling of a breezy day at Druridge Bay on the Northumberland coast in northeast England. Although a cloudy day there is plenty of sunlight, a kind of salty, bleached sunlight. Days like these are exhilarating but also quite tiring and you sleep well afterwards with a feeling of a day well spent drawing, painting and exploring, battling the wind and sometimes the waves. The sound of the sand on the soles of your feet as you walk barefoot over the freshly minted surface is very particular. So too is the sound of the marram grasses thrashing around wildly and, as the tide comes in, the sounds of the breaking surf increasing in volume. The clouds themselves seem to exude a sound, softer than the terrestrial ones but powerful and low. All these memories come back while painting in the studio. This relies mostly on sketches and paintings done on the spot which are much better than photographs at connecting with bodily feelings. It’s these feelings that direct the brush strokes and the colours as much as the observations from the day. I thought about putting a sailing boat on the sea but felt this was too much of a cliche. What about some sea birds flirting with the surf? Maybe. It’s tricky when it comes to avoiding cliche, but there were certainly seabirds around. One thing that strong onshore weather does bring is flotsam, in this case a bleached branch of a tree, perhaps from a previous storm given its position in the dunes.

$1609

About the artist

Lionel Playford

Add to Favourites

I am a painter of northern landscapes and of the sea. I'm an established artist in the north of England but I'm also known more widely with for example my TV participation in the SKY Portrait Artist of the Year competition.