The Storm Skua

Here is a little break down of a just finished Painting . I started the idea for this piece some time ago whilst gathering references of breakers coming in of the back of a storm . we had a low pressure system hit the coast back in Feb 2008! yes that long ago!! I was wondering what to do with these refs for a long time and then on a visit to Bee sands on the South Hams coastline it all started to come together. Whilst having a lovely day with the family on this lovely pebbly beach I was watching Sandwich terns too'ing and fro'ing up and down the beach fishing. After a while there activities stopped abruptly and the reason soon appeared further out in the sea. An Arctic Skua passed by powerfully rowing across the sky on sinuous wings heading out towards start Point Lighthouse. It was a fantastic sighting for me and started my thoughts again about the storm refs I had gathered and I new instantly what bird I should use in it. Here is the progression in Drawings and colour sketches to show how it developed It just shows that some paintings may take years to reach fruition from initial inspiration to completion. and that I probably will re visit the refs I took of the storm on that February day back in 2008 . Enjoy