Copper Seaspray

150 x 150 cm
Acrylic, gold leaf and ink
 
Copper Seaspray is part of the Dune series, depicting the wild grass, tangled tea trees and twisted banksia branches that intermingle with drift wood and crushed shell found along the wild stretch of 90 Mile Beach in Victoria. My artwork traces a walk through different arts of the sand dunes and nearby rock pools - it can be viewed almost like a map.
My practice involves sketching and painting en plein air, layering the washes of paint and charcoal as the sun makes it way through the sky and the shadows lengthen on the dune. The copper leaf highlights are the sun gilding rock-pools and flashing through the grassy tussocks.
 
This artwork is painted in a warm cream, light and dark ochres, copper, white and dark blue.
The copper leaf changes in tone from warm gold copper to deep dark brass copper.