Beach
A shallow beach on Herm Island, Guernsey, with stranded marine life. Acrylics on linen canvas – 56 x 41 cm.
£275.00
Beach with stranded marine life.
A beach on Herm
This beach is on the west of Herm island, near Guernsey. I added the stranded and dead sea creatures later. It is a scene that I have long wanted to paint. Herm is a beautiful island, but strangely poor in marine life around its many beaches. This has more to do with tidal currents than any more sinister factor – but when I came to paint it I thought it felt rather sterile.
The dead beach
Looking online for ‘models’, I found awful pictures of the devastation on UK beaches following Storm Emma: one such was the beach at Margate, entirely covered in dead starfish and crabs. The stench must have been dreadful. ‘Experts’ claimed that the loss was temporary and that life would soon be restored. Perhaps, but two things occurred to me. First, most of the dead animals were Common Starfish, Lobsters, Shore Crabs and Velvet Swimming Crabs. Other species were underrepresented. Secondly, the sheer number of the three species points to problems with balance. The storm itself might also have been a response to human activity.
On the other hand, this is just a painting of a beautiful beach. The rippling of the shallow water was difficult to pull off and I had a few attempts that got painted over before settling on this one. I’m still not entirely happy with it – but it is good enough.
You might also like these paintings of cliffs in Sark or this beach in Norfolk. Also, how about this scene in Sidmouth, Devon?
