This morning I sent off 6 paintings to the Staithes Gallery ready for their Lifeboat Show, running from 8 – 25 April. Colours are all tints and tones of powdery blues and rose pantiles in these Yorkshire paintings. Most of the paintings I’ve done are on a square format, although for the latest I have returned to a long landscape canvas, perfect for the horizontal emphasis in most seascapes, and one which allows a fresh take on the view onto the estuary. 

Susan Isaac - Early Morning Light, Whitby Steps (oil on canvas, 40 x 102cm)

Staithes is a place that would take a long time for me to exhaust.  Each time I approach a new painting,  even favourite views, there is always a fresh variation in emphasis to be found or a different format which allows a new set of compositional possibilities.  The more you look the more you see. This set of paintings is on the moody tonal side, in soft blues and grey browns enlivened by the red of the pantiles. The profiles of the buildings and the geographical features give enough interest without devising atmospheric effects. The two paintings of Whitby however were partly inspired by  the extremes of the daylight.  In particular the view from the swing bridge in which the light becomes shattered into splintering shards of pastel colour. 

Susan Isaac - Old Whitby from the Swingbridge (oil on canvas, 51 x 51cm)