The secret

My disorganised working table in front of the painting: "The secret" acrylics on canvas   40 x 110 cm

Now the ice has melted and the last of the snow has disappeared, revealing the beach again and with it some of my favourite subjects to paint. Stones of all shapes and sizes, dry stones with rough interesting structures, wet stones glistening in the sun, casting shadows and reflecting themselves in the wet sand.
I don’t know why stones fascinate me so much, perhaps it’s just the fact that they are found all over the world that makes them so universal and symbolic.
Jack Penn once wrote: “ One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.”

I've thought about that a lot.

There was in fact a seagull standing there between the stones and after hours of painting it in every detail and contemplating over it I finally decided it should be removed. The seagull and the stones stole attention from each other and the calm harmony of the subject was jeopardised. In other words the combination of seagull, sea, stones and sand was just too much and the old saying “Less is more” seemed to be the wisest conclusion here.
Perhaps next time I feel inspired to do some detailed work with a bird I’ll paint it as the main subject in the foreground and render the background without focus and with very soft transitions. But that’s another story.