On the Beach

A very unusual day for early April in Scotland; the sun was shining (it was even quite warm) and we spent the afternoon on the beach at Croy Bay, near Culzean Castle on the Ayrshire coast, sitting on our little fold-away chairs drinking coffee from a flask and eating chocolate biscuits. Heaven! And I was doing some pastel sketching. Inspired by the work of Casey Klahn (who reminded me of that other American pastel hero, Wolf Khan) I took some of my own pastels with me and spent a very pleasant afternoon watching the sun slowly track across a high azzure sky, sparkling off the sea, and listening to gentle waves break on the long beach. With kids and their grandparents splashing at the seas' edge, dog-walkers exercising their four-legged friends, and courting lovers embracing in long kisses without a care who was watching.

Pastel on paper, 15x10cm: Ailsa Craig on the dark-blue horizon with a placid blue sea and wide stretches of damp sand. Pastel on paper, 15x10cm: Kids playing on the sand.

pastel on paper, 15x10cm: Looking over to Culzean Castle and the headland at Turnbury.

Pastel on paper, 15x10: Walkin' the dawg! Dark figures contre-jour on the wet sands as the tide turns and starts to charge back in. This is perhaps the best image of all, although the others do look better in actual fact - I need to find a better way of recapturing pastels for viewing on the internet.
Maw and Paw Broon!: Me with my bunnet and the missus (Jacqueline) with a cup of hot coffee and a chockie biscuit! Grumpy lookin' auld bugger with wet patches on my knees where I was kneeling on the sand to set up the self-timer on my camera. At least I got our heads in, which is more than J can do holding the camera in her hands!