Susan Isaac – Smeaton’s Pier at St Ives

This viewpoint is in St Ives, standing on Smeaton’s Pier and looking back towards the foreshore – it is one that I return to often. The backdrop to the composition has a very characteristic grouping of houses that stand where the pier springs out from ‘The Wharf’ to encompass the teal blue waters of the harbour. Three small dinghies sit lightly in the water behind the solid barrier of the pier’s monumental stonework. They are pointing towards three relieving arches picked out by evening summer sun just ahead of where the massive retaining blocks hit the water. I like the way in which these blocks are delicately traced with lines of mortar running across the surface of the pier. They and the railings pull the viewer back towards the protected safety of the shore.