My next show, "WAVES and WAKES", is scheduled to run from Sat 12th April until Sat 10th May at the Katharine House Gallery, in The Parade, MARLBOROUGH, Wiltshire, SN8 1NE. For further information, ring The Gallery, which is open Tue-Sat, on 01672-514040.

Flood Tide on Camber Sands

Size: 2.39m x 1.60m  Status: On loan to The John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England  Medium: Oils on canvas  

Spring 1976 in Maidstone, England  Exhibited: 7 

The incoming tide advances at a brisk walking pace over Camber Sands, especially as the sea is 'funnelled' along narrow, low lying channels. Sets of intermingling waves reinforce each other's progress; accelerating what would otherwise be a steady advance. Some unwary people are believed to have been drowned by this process, as the inrushing sea filled channels behind them to unmanageable depth.

Wondering about the truth of these stories, one day while attempting to photograph the incoming 'flood tide', I indeed found myself overtaken by the sea while walking backwards along one such channel, having to turn and break into a run more than once (rather than getting wet feet) before obtaining the photographic 'shots' that I wanted, showing the advancing waves.

The derived painting shows the first swirling water disturbing loose sand, and also reflections of the sun in a 'glitter path' modified into strings of pearl-like reflections decorating the onrushing wavefronts.