Northcott Mouth Evening Light

Around 8pm I decided to take off to Northcott Mouth, a favourite beach just a mile away. I needed to see the sea, maybe do some sketching, but mostly just be. It was a pretty ordinary sort of day and by evening the wind had picked up and it had cooled off; a sign of the weather changing.

It’s these sort of days though that can catch you by surprise; when you think there will be nothing to see and then nature pulls out all the stops seemingly just for me as I stood there gazing. A moment in time when an ordinary evening turned into a sight of wonder. It felt like a lucky strike.

Panorama shot of Northcott Mouth beach

I only had my phone camera but took over 20 snaps as the clouds piled in and the sun dipped. As time went on the light got softer, lower and the sea took on the colours of the sky.

These moments often spark off ideas…. I could create a whole series of paintings from this one evening’s photographs. An entire exhibition of changing light, colour with dramatic skies all from one location.

Too late for my forthcoming exhibition in August ‘The Sea and Me’ but maybe for the next. Indeed, the panoramic shot above reminded me very much of a canvas I painted two years ago which featured the stone bivvy above, “Lifeguard’s Retreat”