Sunset, sunrise, swiftly flow the days
Do you remember the lyrics "Sunset, sunrise, swiftly flow the days" from the Roger Whittaker song? We played the LP over and over when I was a girl. I understand the meaning now that my first born is off to university and my second is as tall as me and will soon be a man!
More literally, I've just completed these two sunset/sunrise original monotypes and I'm working on two night sky ones. I find it helpful to work in pairs as I can use a similar colour palette and I know they will go together well.
I received an amazing response to my previous seascapes from my email subscribers and social media followers. It really encouraged me to continue with the theme and the panorama format for another series.
Dunstanburgh Castle is an iconic landmark in my area - Northumberland (in North East England, for my international readers). Most of my landscapes and seascapes are imagined places that bring together elements I've remembered from many places rather than a specific view. But for "Dunstanburgh Sunrise", I wanted to vary the theme of receding headlands by adding a strong focus element - the castle is perfect for this. I think of this as the "back" view of the castle as the main entrance is on the other side.
The video above gives a brief overview of the making of this piece. At the beginning, I mention sunset colours but I think, if it's on the East coast, it must be sunrise! The photographers amongst you can correct me. All my visits have been in the middle of the day so imagination played a large part in the design!
There's a significant difference between creating an artwork and a photograph. I have so much admiration for professional photographers who get up in the middle of the night to be on site and set up by dawn. It may take many attempts to get the optimal weather and light conditions. For an artist, you can pick and choose the elements you want to put in and offer your own unique interpretation that doesn't need to be realistic at all. It's also warmer in the studio...
"Sunset behind the Headlands" is purely the work of my imagination once again drawing on inspiration from the Scottish islands. I under-printed the water with colours that mirror those in the sky to give a sense of reflected light. The four levels of headlands were printed using paper stencils and shades of indigo.
The patterns of the water are worked all the way across the image which leaves subtle echos in the foreground headlands which I think reads as texture in the rocks. You can see the making of this piece on my Instagram account.
These two originals are available to purchase. Join my email list (in the footer) if you want to receive alerts of when new work is available.
