This is one of a group of paintings I’ve been working on of ‘The Crowns’ engine houses at Botallack in Cornwall. I love this highly vertiginous viewpoint of the remains.  Its a view that has led me to experiment with increasing the physicality of the oil paint – letting the paint have stronger presence. I may take this further in later canvases. Although the Cornish sea and sky are summer blue, the paintings are quite dark and I wanted to push the contrasts as far as possible, with the inlet of turbulent white waters at the base of the cliffs breaking up the landmasses, both visually and literally.

Susan Isaac – The Crowns Engine Houses at Botallack, Cornwall