As Spring makes its welcome return, I’ve been continuing my series of original oil paintings, the latest works being Over the shore and Calm seas.

Calm seas is one of larger semi-abstract original oil paintings inspired by the the natural beauty of the seashore, its wide open spaces and fantastic skies in the Spring sunshine over Ross beach near Lindisfarne in Northumberland.

I've used expressive brushstrokes and rich oil paint textures to reflect the sense of nature moving - the vast movement of the sea and the clouds in the sky.

The oil painting reflects the wonderful calm of the flat open sea and its slow movement as gentle waves approach the beach. Overhead, the movement of air sculpts beautiful cloud forms at different heights, suggesting open space and distance.

Rich, exquisite shades of blue (Ultramarine, Prussian and Cerulean) together with cadmium reds and touches of cadmium yellow and indian yellow reflect the serenity and the calmness of this coastal view.

The seascape painting is painted on a gallery style canvas, meaning it has a profile depth (in this case of approximately 4 cm or 1.7 inches). The sides are left painted white, which means it is suitable to hang as it is, without a frame, if required. When oil painting on canvas, I mostly kept the sides masked off or unpainted to keep it as white a side as possible without overpainting.

It would make for a fantastic contemporary fine art center piece and a beautiful reminder of nature and the sea for your living space.

Published March 2017