Getting COASTAL ready - July 2026

I love the early stages of a painting project, before even the paint goes down;  I often tell myself that I could just call these early stages finished but it never sits comfortably with me.

Black and white paintings/drawings are so effective, full of drama and simplicity but the desire to add colour always wins me over.

But here are some of the early sketches to the painting collection created for the Square Foot COASTAL show using only black compressed charcoal and water, a large flat brush and some very beautiful Arches watercolour paper...my favorite recipe!

I needed between 3-5 finished pieces which meant painting many more than that so I'd have plenty to choose from for the final selection.

Growing up, we spent as much time as the school calendar would allow holidaying at the tip

of the sunny south-east of Ireland so this theme conjured up a swell of happy childhood memories – left pretty much unattended, we were free to roam, almost feral, returning home only when we were hungry and being sent out again with a sandwich of some sort in each hand…sliced apple, squashed between two doorstop thick chunks of fresh cut loaf!

Happy times and definitely where I first fell in love with the sea.

As the inspiration for this small collection of paintings, my mind was full of those floral bursts of paper like flowers we’d come across while racing over the sand dunes.

The COASTAL show goes live on 9^th July at 2am GMT for just 24 hours so set your alarm clock; make sure you don’t miss out on a good ole browse from the comfort of your own home HERE

I'm afraid I can't show you the finished pieces here but I can give you a little peak at some of the early painting stages where colour is added.

Next time...I'll be able to show you the final 5 paintings submitted.