Landscapes, Surfing, Seascapes — oil painting by Ray Patrick
A wave standing up and beginning to pitch, seen from the side, with its hollow just opening and no shore or figure anywhere.
The wave rises from the lower left and fills the right half, its crest cropped by neither edge; the water in front runs flat to the bottom. The dark heart of the barrel sits right of centre and is the only deep note.
Pale cerulean and ice blue through the sky and spray, against bottle green and ultramarine in the wave's face, with one passage of near-black crimson in the hollow. Soft pinks and lilacs run through the foam.
Laid with the knife as much as the brush — flat planes dragged and scraped so the colour beneath shows at the edges. The ridges stand well off the surface and hold the light.
Oil on canvas board. Thick throughout, with the canvas weave visible at the margins and a palette knife in the frame beside it.
Right of centre, raypatrick, in emerald over the water, letters touching.