At certain times of year, the tide pulls right out across East Head and leaves the sand holding the sky. I wanted this piece to carry the stillness that settles over the spit when the water's gone this far, that particular quiet where there's nothing to do but stand and get lost in your own thoughts.

Painting cloud reflected in wet ground is a different challenge to painting skies. The colours have to agree with each other across the divide, so the sand reads as glass rather than simply as sand. I built the surface in poured layers over several months, adding and leaving them to settle, careful not to lose that watery, almost sheer quality as the piece developed.

The result is a painting about vastness as much as about a place. I hope it holds some of that same open, unhurried feeling.

Painting mediums used: Golden, Liquitex & Daler-Rowney.