Refuge

It had been a couple of weeks' since my last painting. I could easily have found reasons for not painting. Indeed, I found several things I just had to do before starting. Yet, I was excited. From lots of potential subjects, taken from a holiday in the north east, this was the image I wanted to paint. It shows the first refuge on the Pilgrim's Way, looking toward Lindisfarne. I walked it while on holiday there. From feeling nervous about starting the journey on foot, we grew in confidence and stopped many times to take in our surroundings, including the sounds. Wind buffering us. Footsteps lapping or splashing rhythmically in the waters. Best of all, the strange wailing of hundreds of grey seals, looking like rocks, on a sandbank.

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But could I do the photograph justice? I took time to study the picture. There were patterns across the page, showing the textures of the water and the sand, the sky and the landshapes. I chose the paints I thought I would need - lots of blues, browns, lemon yellow and silver with whites. And then, just after laying out the focus points on the page, I realised I'd forgotten to do a grounding! Should I start again?, I thought. No, carry on. It may reveal something new.

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As I worked, I didn't think it would be any good. But that didn't matter to me. What mattered was that I felt lovely inside, relaxed and good, enjoying applying paint, knife and sponge rag just to see what they would do.

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And maybe, I discovered something about the use of white paper. A friend shared on of the images I posted on social media; not the final image but the second, which is striking. A happy accident!