Seascapes — oil painting by Ray Patrick
The La Jolla coast seen from the rocks — surf running in over a reef, a pale curving beach, and a bluff of palms and low buildings closing the distance.
Four registers read from a low viewpoint: sky, bluff, breaking water, and the rock-strewn sand in front. The shoreline curves in from the right and is the only line in the picture that is not level.
Cobalt and ultramarine in the deep water shading to jade in the shallows, against sand in bone and apricot. The rocks are sienna and umber; the palms small dark marks on the skyline.
Thick and square, the water laid in horizontal pulls and the surf dragged across them in broken white. Each rock is one loaded slab with a single violet shadow stamped beside it.
Oil on canvas paper with an unpainted margin. Photographed on the studio table.
Lower centre, raypatrick, scratched into the wet paint in green.