October Textures

I've lived in Sunderland for most of my life but I'm not a native. Before this project, I'd heard of magnesian limestone but that was all. I'll always be a landscape painter so my interest was, from the start, the coastal scenery, the cliffs and everything that grows there. I have focused on the area around and above the Blast Beach in Seaham in changing light and seasons. I love to draw what I describe as the "scratchy textures" of the gorse and hawthorn bushes and the grasses and seed-heads of cow parsley and dock. All the works submitted for the exhibition, except the oil painting, were completed in situ. This project has led me to a much greater appreciation of this beautiful open space.