Kingsgate Bay located on the southeast coast of England in Kent, is a sheltered sandy cove backed by high white chalk cliffs. The beach is probably best known for it's sea coves. Overlooking the southern end of the beach is Kingsgate Castle, built in the 1760's for Lord Holland. At the other end is the Captain Digby public house, also built by Lord Holland.
I painted this oil on canvas of Kent's rugged coastline as a contrast to my usual subject matter of Mallorca and its stunning coves or ''calas''. The seas around the UK are rich in algae and other essential nutrients, which give them a totally different feel and tonality. In the foreground I have captured the unique pattern in the shallow waters as the sea recedes from the beach.
As each one of my view paintings is a frozen historical record of an exact moment in time, I felt it important to show the advancement of the great offshore wind-farms.
The painting is not actually a ''chocolate box'' view of Kingsgate bay. This picture depicts the clear change in human thinking. The interchange between old and new. Renewable wind-farm electricity generation 'the new' and 'the old' represented by the oil tanker. The sea gulls on the clifftop now free of pollution larking about in the cleaner air. Its a time of change for all of us as we learn to switch to renewable electricity generation.
Although not my usual subject matter, I felt it was a moment in history worth recording in oil on canvas.
I have applied the paint in layers of a special glazing mix so as to enhance the colour's luminosity.
