The Magic Beach

122 x 178 cm
Sarah Longley ARUA

2019

Charcoal on paper

“This is a spot I’ve been going to all my life, even before I was born, with my family. It’s a very special place to all of us…. We would always have a picnic with us. We would perch ourselves close to the big boulder that you can see on the left hand side, which actually serves as quite a good table as well. Then we would go for a swim.

“That day was a very sparkly, sunny day. I’d brought a couple of sketch pads and I decided to do a couple of very quick studies which I was able to develop into a bigger drawing…. I just loved the light on the water. I’ve drawn water before, but not for some years, so this was really enjoyable for me…. I do love it as a subject matter. I was trying to get that sense of movement, of the waves coming in over the rocks, the sea pooling in as the tide draws in the sea up over the sand.”

You can read a full transcript of the artist discussing this work in the pamphlet ‘Sarah Longley: Six Large Works’ – click on the pamphlet photo in the Artworks tab.