Seascapes — oil painting by Ray Patrick
A rocky shore at La Jolla seen from the bluff, surf running in over the reef and a lone figure standing on the wet sand at the lower right.
A high viewpoint and no sky at all. The rock masses step in from the left, the water runs down from the upper right, and the sand opens at the foot where the single figure stands — placed as far from the rocks as the panel allows.
Umber, sienna and plum in the rock against water of turquoise, jade and cobalt. The sand is a pale rose and bone; the figure a small note of vermilion.
Thick and square, the rocks laid as flat slabs with the shadows cut in as single dark pulls, and the water dragged horizontally in broken strokes that let the colour beneath show through.
Oil on canvas paper with an unpainted margin. Photographed on the studio table.
Lower left, raypatrick, scratched into the wet paint in green, with La Jolla inscribed beside it.