Last Light at Lindisfarne, Original Oil
Materials and Dimensions
Canvas 70 x 35 cms.
Oil on stretched canvas, unframed.
There is a particular kind of stillness that comes at the end of a summer day on Lindisfarne. I painted Last Light at Lindisfarne during the summer solstice, as the sun was sinking towards the horizon behind me and the island was beginning to fall into shadows.
The foreground is already dark, with the old dry-stone wall catching the last traces of colour, while the fields beyond remain touched by the evening light. Across the landscape, the buildings glow warmly in the setting sun, and Lindisfarne Castle catches the final light against a soft pink and golden sky. It was an exceptionally quiet evening, with very few people about. I wanted to capture that fleeting moment when the day is almost over, but the light is still holding on.
The title refers both to the last light of the day and the last light of the summer solstice — the longest day giving way, almost imperceptibly, to evening.