Boats

I visited the coast on Nov 13th after a misty start at Minsmere and following a delicious hot chocolate from the old coast guard cottages cafe it turned into a bright crisp afternoon on Dunwich beach.

Boats and hunting for driftwood soon became the focus for a walk. My head began to clear and my optimism was renewed. The beached showed evidence of heavy strong seas and high tides which had littered the tide line with loads of of plastic, some driftwood and massive clumps of seaweed on the beach and in the sea. The weed had tangled amongst it rope, plastic fishing line and dangerous hooks.

The visit inspired boat making with found driftwood and beach finds.

The sky was a perfect blue and strong shadows cast by the winching shed made the scene even more appealing.

Before showing you some of the boats made after my visit. I thought I would include a picture of Discarded a found piece which combined beach finds with collaged art work on a painted canvas. I was producing work like this during 2005

This reminds me of a Maldon barge I used to live close to Maldon . It was great to pop to the river and see the barges and other boats the mud, reed beds etc. Fond memories

This reminds me of a boat I saw in the far east.

I love finding pieces of wood which have been painted

Transparent sail
I called this piece Iron Bird

Half circle

Heartshaped glass

Found

I found this fantastic piece of shaped metal on a lovely warm sunny day the tide was out and the beach was sandy. I love the texture, colour, size and patina. It is so exciting stumbling across something like this. My brain goes into overdrive very satisfying.

Further on down the beach I found this piece of old pipe encrusted with stones. The colour is similar to the previous piece but it is more organic. I thought I would combine the pieces together but they seem to cancel one another out. I like to use pieces together from the same walk.

When I tried it out I think they cancel one another out.

I added 3 these small canvases to rusted beach find it acts as a frame. This works for me.

We had really strong winds and rough seas at the beginning of the week.

It was half term week so many more visitors to the site. These boys played for hours on the edge of the raging sea having great fun note the wellies which must have been very wet in side. The day before at this spot there was a vast expanse of sand and with the help of there dad they dug out a large boat- this took most of the morning and had great fun smashing it to pieces when the went up for lunch. Reminds me of my myself at there young age on or around this spot.

After a very blustery night in the caravan during my morning beach walk I found the pieces of wood on the tide line I have used in this found piece. I have used wire to lash them together to make the form of a boat shape. The piece of ply had come off a huge piece that I found further along the shore. The exposed layers and uneven shape reminded me of sails.

Detail of boat. I have in the past combined wire to draw on top of painting.