Coastal Pathway 2014 (Oil on Canvas - 120cm by 90cm)

 

The Coastal Pathway painting developed on site, with me observing a gravel path, in the background of the coastline at Skegness, which meandered its way through the dunes and around the trees and bushes at the edge of the land. There was just something about it leading you on a journey, and the position of it in regards to the fields or dunes and the sky and trees was to the far right, so it created an interesting composition in my mind, one that would lead you into the distance.

 

Initially I began with a canvas from the previous year, so the size of 120cm x 90cm was predetermined, however I believed that it would suit the composition and the shape was almost like a scaled up version of the onsite piece that it would correspond to anyway, so I didn't feel that there was any major issue with it.

 

I started by creating some marks on the canvas, dripping paint onto it, creating an inspiring background, this was before I knew what I would paint upon it. However my ideas seemed to develop quite quickly, in regards to me realising that this was the onsite piece that I thought would sit right on that canvas.

 

I believe this was the first piece where the paint really started to get a lot thicker, and I did think I was in danger of it being overworked and just a mess, though I am surprised that with some more precise palette work it has developed far better visually than I thought. In this one the mark making is less adventurous or varied, though it creates an interesting contrast in design to the other pieces, I've also hardly scraped away at the paint, I think in the end I realised that perhaps is was destined to be a bit more heavily built up and has provided me with further feedback for my schema, which I can and have progressed with in more current works.