The Wild Sea

When you think of the ocean, is it serene, in the tropics—or is it crashing against rocky cliffs?

We lived near so many coastlines that I can’t connect this painting to only one. Portugal is certainly in it, particularly the rocky beach of Peniche. Also, our place on the Amalfi Coast, but so are the coastlines from many of the UK places we stayed, particularly Torquay and St. Ives.

I feel incredibly alive beside the sea. But I’m not particularly interested in perfectly still water. I want the waves crashing. Wind blustering. Mist in the air. Seagulls overhead. Everything moving.

One of the things I hope for wherever we eventually settle is to live somewhere I can hear seagulls every day.

This is probably the most literal landscape in the exhibition, but to me it’s less about a particular coastline than the feeling I keep searching for when I’m beside one.