I began this large oil painting last month after our short break in Staithes on the east coast of Yorkshire, England. I found the slabs of stone near the cliffs pulled me towards them. Maybe they reminded me of the cliffs at St. Bees my home village. However these were mostly blue/grey horizontal slabs on the ground as I have shared in the photos on this blog. There were one or two lumps of red sandstone that looked very familiar as if stranded amongst these alien rocks.My father told me it is the same seam of sandstone that stretches across the north of England and all but peters out on the east coast. The isolated orange/red of the rock spoke to me. I made a sketch on the spot which you can see here, and the oil painting from it back in the studio. I stopped much sooner than I usually do. I had said all I wanted to. I hope this will be dry enough to go in the show  at The Plough in Cambridgeshire with my friend Mo De Rome in October. The glazes are quite thin with only one or two thicker brushstrokes, so it should be. Don’t forget to click images to enlarge folks!