Rough Seas

I've not added anything to this blog in quite a while - sorry about that! Anyway, here we are back in action...

This is my latest painting: 'Our Town's Faith, Hope and Glory', a name suggested by one of the inhabitants of Buckie, on the north-east coast of Scotland, whose harbour stars in this painting. I had initially intended a painting of a trawler leaving port (Buckie is a working port) but as I was skecthing the harbour entrance, the lifeboat put to sea on a training exercise. This painting was born at that moment!

Once I had the idea for the lifeboat, I couldn't make do with the calm sea as I wanted to reflect the fact that these crew members stand into danger in all sorts of weathers, and the weather and sea around here can be pretty bad! Although the view here is within the harbour, there's still some swell from outside. The majority of the dramatic effect here comes from the waves we can't see crashing over the walls. I loved doing these waves and spray, and I'm sure they'll be featuring again soon.

For this painting, I'm glad to say that we'll be donating a framed copy to the Buckie Lifeboat crew in early March, and they've invited us over to the station for a look around. I'm delighted that the finished painting pays tribute to the bravery of the crews - especially important in this coastal region. I'll be staying with Buckie for the next painting too...