‘Whale Watching, Golden Hour’ is painted using oil and acrylic on canvas. It is a large painting on an artist’s high quality Windsor and Newton stretcher which is warp resistant.
The painting is made using large brushstrokes and the texture of the paint and brush marks are visible on the surface of the canvas. It is painted using a combination of oil and acrylic paint which gives it extreme vibrancy and shine in some areas. In some areas of the painting the oil pigment is fluorescent which gives intense strong colour.
The painting is inspired by a recent trip to California. On the first day I drove my car out of LA early because I wasn’t sure how my British brain would cope with the multiple lanes of cars moving at speed. Turns out it was fine. I drove north from LA, up the Pacific Coast to Pismo, a sleepy slightly ramshackle surf town. I pulled in and parked up near a group of shops, a random palmist, donuts, coffee and I checked my phone for things to do and see. It suggested a walk down the pier.
 
That morning the weather was grey and drizzly. Not the clear Californian blue I was hoping for, but as I wandered along the pier I could see poeple looking out and gathered all watching something. As I came closer and stood for a minute suddenly huge dark shapes broke through the water surface and lurched forward. Hump back whales.
 
In my life I have never experienced anything quite so amazing in the natural world. So large, strange shapes the mouths sort of bulge and ripple. One whale flapped its tail for over 20 hits to bring the fish up to the surface. I loved the experience of seeing this so much I wanted to incorporate it into a painting.