Status of Original Painting – Private Collection

All prices are in Canadian dollars

Size: 20 x 9.75  inches

Price: Inquire

Medium: Watercolour on 300 lb Arches

Description:

A solitary dandelion pushing up through rocky terrain seems like the first steps in terraforming Mars to become suitable for human habitation. All that’s missing is a pinkish-red sky and a dome in the background for the colonists.

The scene is at Sandy Cove Beach in Elliston, Newfoundland. Apparently there’s longstanding argument about whether it should be called Sandy Beach or Sandy Cove Beach, as mentioned at this link; I’m not taking sides. You might also wonder if “sandy” is deliberately ironic with all these rocks…but there is a sandy beach in the background.

It seems I’ve inadvertently created a triptych of paintings, with the recent “Iceberg in Elliston,” followed by “A Hobbit in Elliston,” and now this one. Triptych means three related paintings or a painting in three parts. I hadn’t set out to do that, but it happened that one reference photo after another from the same place caught my eyes.

With any painting there can be a tedious aspect to it. With this one I thought it was the small rocks. But after finishing the cliff face that occupies almost half the painting, the relief I sought in moving on to the large rocks quickly reverted (oh, joy!) into even more tedium for the second half. I saved the dandelion for the very end as something to look forward to. I delighted in making it realistic and to stand out from the rest of the scene.

My thanks to Beth Kirby who graciously provided the reference photo with this painting.