Description
Salt Kissed Altar
oil on braced wood panel
30 x 40 x 5cm
2024
A painting depicting a distorted shadow selfie upon a wave, taking a photo. Painted with oil on a braced birch wood panel, with deep 5cm bare wood edges.
When swimming I take photos with a waterproof camera which I use as source material for paintings. Sometimes I forget my camera so will take ‘danger shots’ with my iphone, jumping up away from the waves as they come, I rather enjoy it. This is when I take shadow selfies cast upon the waves, the waves always on the rights as the sun is always behind me at this angle.
Shadow selfies are something I have visited before in my work. They’re a good way for me to add my image to a painting without a self portrait. The shadow image gives enough information of my form, they place me both in the landscape/seascape and also behind the camera. One hand holding the phone, the other keeping balance, one eye on the looming wave, trying to capture it at the very last moment builds tension.
When painting from photos I use them initially for the complicated shape and facets of a wave before discarding them and letting the paint take over. This is a special moment; I sink into blissful creativity letting my mind wander, immersed in paint, tones, shapes and colour.
