New Zealand Beach

This painting was done on request. It shows a girl walking along the beach at Matheson’s Bay, a small, sheltered cove north of Auckland in New Zealand.

She walks away from the viewer through the shallow water at the edge of the sea, leaving a trail of footprints across the wet, orange-gold sand behind her. Waves wash in over the sand in layers of green, turquoise and white, and the bay curves away towards a rocky, bush-covered headland on the right. Behind the beach, green hills and patches of farmland rise up to meet a clear blue sky.

I painted this over a three-day period, taking my time with the waves and the light on the sand. The footprints are my favourite detail. They lead the eye from the front of the painting straight to her, as if inviting you to follow her down the beach.