Wave, west Harris

Harris is a special place, quite unlike the mainland, and subtly different to the other islands. When viewed from afar and from the the sea the Hebrides seem hunkered down, braced against the forces that assail them so as to resemble the spine of some creature which has adopted a profile allowing the wind and rain to pass over it as quickly as possible.

This a summer painting, mid-summer’s eve. Though such is the mercurial light of west Harris that it seems to hint at another season. The force of the Atlantic does not abate, the rollers that break have too much power behind them so that even on a still evening the waters foam and boil. The weakened light of a cloudy evening is momentarily held within a wave.

In some beach locations the sea is a backdrop to the coast, here the sea is always pre-eminent.