From a Distance

From a Distance

I think I have shown this painting before but in the very early days of blogging. This is one of those paintings that come as a happy accident. I was not at all happy with the painting I had begun. I decided to begin again. I took a very large brush and spread the paint across the large canvas. I then left it to dry before applying a coat of gesso and start again.


I went to have a cup of coffee while the paint dried. On my return I was captured by the faint idea of a painting. Instead of painting over with gesso I added the hint of waves and the two distant figures. Now it could be said that this was a happy accident but it was an accident waiting to happen. I had been running early that morning. I had run along the beach at North Queensferry. As I ran in the silence I became very aware of the vastness of it all. I stopped and let the sand run through my fingers. Every grain of sand all needed to make the beach. Every person needed to make humanity.

Here I was the small and tiny figure in all this trying to play my part and take my place.

So a happy accident but one that who knows happened as per circumstance.

I called it, “From a Distance,” and I still have it. I will not sell it because I have a good friend who does not have an easy life. He loves this painting and one day soon it will hang on his walls. He and I may in fact be the only two who do like it but does it matter?



This blog is linked to my other where the artwork is used:- Say Nothing