The above are details of the painting I have started in oil based on a series of photos I took at Rye back beach one gloriously sunny, windy day.
There is a lot in that sentence I feel I need to explain. Oil? Yes. Unfortunately I am at a loss to recall how it came that my dear friend Jackie sent me a link to Open Water Paintings by Ran Ortner, a man I have never heard of before. Even now just looking through them on his website almost makes me want to cry. They are enormous, immersive paintings of light on white washed water. They are emotional, compelling living, breathing organisms...okay, maybe that is going a little too far, but they sparked in me a memory of painting waves from surf magazines. These vast tributes to light and water compelled me to paint my own water paintings again. But where to begin?
Initially I returned to the original source material, the surf magazine. My favourite images are those from beneath the water looking up. I have always loved that view - strictly photographic. I should confess up front that I have a healthy respect for the sea and the multitudes of creatures that live in it. I have been fascinated with the underwater world for decades, admiring it from the safety of the couch. When I was younger it was nothing for me to swim out past the breakers of surf beaches. Now I am comforted just by sitting on sand and painting. So I decided, I live ten minuets from a surf beach, I should go and take my own photographs and paint from them.
Oil. Oil is not acrylic. Oil is malleable and translucent. Oil can be painted with the hand or thickly with a brush or palette knife. Gesture, energy, light, movement. These are all qualities reflected by water that I just do not believe I can achieve with acrylic, not on a larger scale anyway. For some time now I have wanted to capture the energy of the land, not merely replicate it. I think this occurs within the first five minuets of the plein air painting, only I never stop there. I refine until it looks more like someone has pushed the pause button.
It has been ten years since I have used oil, and longer since painting waves, and I have to admit it has been a pleasure to reacquaint myself with this old friend. Should I manage to wrangle something worthy from the oil on canvas, I will be sure to share it with you.
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