“Bamburgh Castle From Black Point”

Black Point (or Stag) Rock is a really interesting feature at the end of the epic beach that if Bamburgh Beach. It's almost bowl like, because the rock formation curves in a great arc.

For this reason, I was determined to make sketches and paintings of it while on a busman's holiday at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, UK.

It's often called Stag Rock, by the way, because there's a painted Stag on one of the rock faces.

This acrylic‑on‑paper painting was made while sitting with my back to the wall that surrounds the now defunct fog horn. The white stag painted on these rocks, I've mentioned, is hidden from view, below where I'm sitting.

Black Point sticks out into the sea a little way, not quite enough to be called a headland, but still distinctive enough to be named on Ordnance Survey maps.

The rocks here form curves creating a sheltered patch of beach. There's usually water sitting in the basin in the middle of the formation. On this occasion, the tide was very low, so much of the water had drained away.

I'd managed get out of the wind that hassled me most of the week I was at Bamburgh that year. Many of the paintings I made were the result of seeking shelter. I'm not sure I'd have discovered so many interesting views had the weather been warmer!

The day was filled with a bright, sharp, squint inducing light – as is sometimes the way on cold days. You can see it on the wet sand in the distance.

This is the place where you'll often see the Eider Duck, along with Cormorants. Non‑breeding ducks sit just off the rocks here, where people can't disturb them easily.

I'm surprised I've not put them in. Perhaps it was the distraction of the Rock Pippet's antics. They soar into the sky singing their heart out, until they abruptly stop and plummet to earth, almost as if shot. I was fascinated, having not to my knowledge witnessed the spectacle before.

The Pippet repeatedly took flight, climbing high into the sky before falling to the rocks infront of me. It's only when you settle for a while in order to truly study a landscape, that you see all these little miracles. This is the joy of making landscape art.