Fisher on the Beach

I am in the happy position of being able to look at the actual picture closely in front of me on the table! I asked Dad if I could have this picture when I saw it in his studio. He seemed surprised that I should like it, but that was his way. I asked him how he got the effect of the stones on the beach. He gave his usual shrug and said 'I don’t know….’

The paint is dry in texture and sort of encrusted but the nearer the beach gets to the eye there are more slight smears of paint amongst the stippled effect. On the right of the fishing rod on the beach just there, he has scratched the surface of the paint with the end of his brush to take away the layers of paint and get back to the ground. Looking at the photo you’d think he had actually put on some white paint there but this is not the case.

That dry scumbled texture continues over the whole surface of the picture which is what drew me in the first place but I love the open solitariness that he has created.