sand stitches

 

Ripples in the sand in stitches

On the back: foot prints made by a wading bird.

 

I walk out onto the sand making a beeline for the water.  Bait diggers’ sand piles litter the beach.  I spot the marks of another bait hunter: a wading bird.

Lines of footprints wander around.  Then the trail changes to a swathe of distinctive marks made by a long beak systematically thrust into the sand whilst slowly moving forward.  The trail loops and curls then goes off in another direction.  At one point it comes to a full stop: a different mark revealing where treasure has been dug up by the hunter.  
(from Spurn diary 18.5.12) 

multiple horizons

I've been developing some of the experiments I did in a small sketch book when I was last at Spurn.  I'm working on a larger scale and using a variety of different media to explore some of the horizontal views.

 

collecting textures

Another grey day and lots of layers are needed to keep out the relentless wind.  But at least it's dry. 

The space I set up yesterday on the second floor of the lighthouse (in front of the big window in the middle) has been really useful as a place to spread things out and do some experiments in wet media.  The room is painted black, as is the room below.  I'm not sure what the significance of the darkness is.  It has a large window which gives enough light to work by.

I decided on Friday's drive over here that this trip must be about collecting textures.  So that is what I've tried to concentrate on.  I've drawn a lot, using pens and charcoal when I'm outside and started to play with making marks from some rusty metal found on the beach.  I tried working on a larger scale yesterday but nothing seemed to work so I've gone back to working on small sketchbook pages, removed carefully from the book to work on so that I can put them back together once things have dried.