Seascapes — oil painting by Ray Patrick
A sandstone cliff falling into green water, seen close and steeply from above, with two small figures standing on the reef in the distance.
The cliff enters from the left and fills two thirds of the panel on a diagonal; the water runs down from the upper right. There is almost no sky, and the two figures on the far reef are the only things giving the rock its scale.
Cadmium yellow, bone and ochre on the lit rock against cobalt and indigo in its shadows. The water below is viridian, emerald and teal — the picture turns on warm rock against cold sea.
Thick and faceted, the cliff built from flat slabs of unmixed colour laid with a loaded brush and left exactly where they landed. The water is dragged in long diagonal pulls beneath it.
Oil on canvas paper with an unpainted margin. A studio photograph resting on a sheet of pen figure drawings, which are separate works.
Lower left, raypatrick, scratched into the wet paint.