New Summer Seascapes

Even though I’m one of those cowardly types who can’t stand cold water and rarely go swimming before the end of June, I do love gazing at the sea… Well, who doesn’t? Charakopio is a couple of kilometres from the Messinian gulf, and a smidge more from the open shores to the south, so there’s no shortage of coastline around here, with everything from fine sand to rocky coves.

Last month, when we had an early two-week heatwave in Greece, I began a new series of small acrylic seascapes. I wanted to convey the intense blues of these early summer days. The series is ongoing.. Each painting portrays a variation in the weather – ranging from windy days with choppy seas, to cloudy days threatening a storm, to calmer, still millpond days. They all convey a feeling of summer in Greece, lying on the beach, gazing out at the distant horizon.

I’m exploring a new way of creating these seascapes… Painting with acrylics, I initially apply the paint to a Geli Plate – a soft printing plate used for creating monoprints. Working with palette knives, credit cards, spatulas and pieces of card, I build up the layers in the sea and sky on the plate. I lift one, or possibly two prints before the picture is set free from the printing table and allowed to dry. Finally, I work into the paintings with whatever each one needs… a little more paint or some colourful inks… a few more waves or more depth of colour. So why bother using the geli plate? Simply because it’s an excitingly unpredictable process which can create some really interesting and unexpected marks to work with when developing the painting.

Painted with artist’s quality acrylics on smooth watercolour paper, these little seascapes measure 12 x 12cm (4.75 x 4.75″) and are mounted in a white matt measuring 23 x 23 (9 x 9″) ready to pop into a standard size 23 x 23cm (9×9″) frame.

They’re not yet up on the website, so are available at the special price of €59.00.  This includes complementary shipping within Europe. (If you’re outside Europe, just contact me for a shipping quote).

If you’d like to give one of these paintings a home, just contact me asap with the number of the painting and we’ll take it from there. Meanwhile, here’s a few close-ups of the available paintings.

 Here’s a little video I took last week on a very deserted Memi beach…