Art rooted in light, nature & place
Four new colours for this month’s creative practice.
CHANCLA the cheap rubber pink of beach flip-flops.
CALIMA the hazy, dust-filled sky that blurs the horizon during the hottest stretch of summer.
TINTO tinto de verano, the red wine and lemonade mix.
NOCHE the deep, warm dark of an August night, still holding the day’s heat.
Use them however you like. A wash of background colour, a single brushstroke, a filter, a frame. The prompts this month and every month can be found here.
#COLCP26
(versión en español abajo)
Last month’s daily prompt number 20 (LINE) started simply: A few drawn lines on paper with my new calligraphy pen.
Those lines found their way under and over two different images. The first pasted into a circle and hung on a local wall. The second, layered over the beach at La Caleta (in Cádiz), both with some added colour from July’s colour as inspiration.
A line is just a line until it finds something to land on.
Join in the creative crusade at #COLCP26 and check out the prompts here.
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El prompt del mes pasado numero 20 (LÍNEA) comenzó de forma sencilla: unas pocas líneas dibujadas en papel con mi nueva pluma caligráfica.
Esas líneas encontraron su camino bajo y sobre dos imágenes diferentes. La primera pegada en un círculo y colgada en una pared local. La segunda, superpuesta sobre la playa de La Caleta (en Cádiz) los dos con algo de color de julio como inspiración.
Una línea es solo una línea hasta que encuentra algo donde posarse.
Únete a la cruzada creativa en #COLCP26 y consulta los prompts aquí.
(versión en español abajo)
This month’s COAST of LIGHT daily prompt number 17 (MATERIAL WORLD as a pattern) found its way into a new set of works this last week.
The material in question (as seen in the images above): a cracked window at Girona train station. The glass had fractured from the inside, internal stress mapped in white lines across the surface. I photographed it and brought it home.
Back at the desk, those lines found their way over photographs of Girona’s ancient fortress walls. The cracked light of time.
The resulting images are called FORTRESS (by day and by night)
Creativity must find you working. Take some pictures and join in on Insta tagging @coastoflight and #COLCP26. Check out the prompts here.
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El prompt mensual de COAST of LIGHT número 17 (MUNDO MATERIAL como patrón) encontró su camino en una nueva serie de obras esta última semana.
El material en cuestión (como se ve en las imágenes de arriba): una ventana agrietada en la estación de tren de Girona. El cristal se había fracturado desde dentro, la tensión interna trazada en líneas blancas sobre la superficie. Lo fotografié y me lo traje a casa.
De vuelta en el estudio, esas líneas encontraron su camino sobre fotografías de los antiguos muros de la fortaleza de Girona. Piedra y cristal. Ciudad antigua, luz agrietada.
Las imágenes resultantes se llaman FORTRESS (de día y de noche).
La creatividad debe encontrarte trabajando. Haz algunas fotos y únete etiquando en @coastoflight #COLCP26. Consulta los prompts aquí.
(versión en español abajo)
There is something that happens when a digital image becomes a physical object. The screen version is familiar, but printed, held in the hand, is something else.
I recently ordered 25 postcards through MOO, mostly recent work from the Coast of Light collection. No particular plan, just felt it was time to get some of it printed and in this case on postcards, giving me something to hand to friends when they visit, or send through the post the old-school way.
The selection more or less chose itself. A mix of mostly recent work: twenty-five small windows into the coast of light. Maybe you’d like to receive one?
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(Que Se Imprima)
Hay algo que ocurre cuando una imagen digital se convierte en un objeto físico. La versión en pantalla es familiar, pero impresa, sostenida en la mano, es otra cosa.
Recientemente encargué 25 postales a través de MOO, en su mayoría trabajo reciente de la colección Coast of Light. Sin ningún plan en particular, simplemente sentí que era hora de imprimir algo — y en este caso en postales, dándome algo que entregar a los amigos cuando visitan, o enviar por correo a la vieja usanza.
La selección se eligió casi sola. Una mezcla de trabajo reciente — veinticinco pequeñas ventanas hacia la costa de la luz. ¿Te gustaría recibir una?
(versión en español abajo)
Bold, warm, and quietly defiant.
This piece, originally created during The Advent Challenge ’25 started, as many do, with a photograph: a wall, the kind you find here in southern Spain, marked by sun and time.
Layered with palm silhouettes and the words CLAIM NOTHING fragmenting across the upper left, it became its own work, a COAST of LIGHT artwork.
Available now in the shop in various sizes.
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Audaz, cálida y silenciosamente desafiante.
Esta pieza, creada originalmente durante el Advent Challenge ’25, comenzó, como muchas, con una fotografía: una pared, del tipo que encuentras aquí en el sur de España, marcada por el sol y el tiempo.
Superpuesta con siluetas de palmeras y las palabras CLAIM NOTHING fragmentándose en la parte superior izquierda, se convirtió en su propia obra, un trabajo de COAST of LIGHT.
Disponible ahora en la tienda en varios tamaños.
(versión en español abajo)
A few weeks ago I posted about spending a Sunday afternoon under the great ficus tree near La Caleta beach in Cádiz, watching Anna do bark rubbings on its trunk. You can read that post here.
Since then the image has continued to develop. The structure was already there: the sprawling branches, the scale, but the colour wasn’t right. New layering, new colouring, for me, has brought this image more to life.
It’s now available as a print in the shop, in various sizes.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4530838189/ancient-tree-art-print-majestic-ficus
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Hace unas semanas escribí sobre una tarde de domingo bajo el gran ficus cerca de la playa de La Caleta en Cádiz, observando a Anna hacer frotados de corteza en su tronco. Puedes leer ese post aquí.
Desde entonces la imagen ha seguido evolucionando. La estructura ya estaba: las ramas extendidas, la escala — pero el color no era el adecuado. Nueva superposición, nueva coloración han dado más vida a esta imagen, al menos para mí.
Ya está disponible como lámina en la tienda, en varios tamaños.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4530838189/ancient-tree-art-print-majestic-ficus
Four new colours for this month’s creative practice.
GIRASOL named after the sunflower fields that fill the Andalucían countryside in July.
CANDELA Spanish for flame or firelight, capturing the heat and energy of the month.
HIGUERA the fig tree, in fruit right now, with flesh this exact deep dusty rose.
PISCINA simply “swimming pool,” that bright artificial turquoise so appealing in the summer months.
Use them however you like. A wash of background colour, a single brushstroke, a filter, a frame. The prompts this month and every month can be found here.
#COLCP26
Two of this month’s daily prompts: 17, MATERIAL WORLD (as a pattern), and 20, LINE, found their way into the same artwork this last week.
The image of the sea was taken here at the coast, then combined with a pattern from the interior of our car. Layered together, the crinkled, patterned surface of the plastic became the texture of the water. Both beautiful and toxic at the same time.
The resulting image I have named: The standard (automotive-grade) plastic sea.
This work is a demonstration of how you never quite know where creativity will appear. Work through the prompts and inspiration finds you.
(Versión en español abajo)
As the heat builds and summer arrives, it felt like the right moment to re-share two older pieces from the COAST of LIGHT collection, Zahara de los Atunes, down the coast from Cádiz.
Zahara is a small fishing village known for its long, wild beach and its history of tuna fishing using the ancient almadraba technique, still practised along this stretch of coast today. It’s one of mine and Anna’s favourite places in the province, and Anna’s favourite place for a swim over the years. The water is just different there.
The first artwork looks out to sea: the sand, the ripples, and the colours of the sky blended together. The second looks back from the beach towards the village, in the same style. Both images created by simply layering photos, the natural colour and light of Zahara doing the rest.
Different views of the same place, capturing the simple beauty of Zahara.
Both available now in the shop, in sizes to suit any wall.
https://coastoflight.etsy.com
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A medida que el calor aprieta y llega el verano, me pareció el momento adecuado para volver a compartir dos piezas de la colección COAST of LIGHT, Zahara de los Atunes, costa abajo desde Cádiz.
Zahara es un pequeño pueblo pesquero conocido por su playa larga y salvaje, y por su historia de pesca de atún mediante la antigua técnica de la almadraba, todavía practicada en este tramo de costa. Es uno de los lugares favoritos de Anna y mío en la provincia, y el lugar preferido de Anna para bañarse a lo largo de los años. El agua allí es simplemente diferente.
La primera obra mira hacia el mar: la arena, las ondas de la marea, y los colores del cielo fundidos entre sí. La segunda mira hacia atrás desde la playa hacia el pueblo, en el mismo estilo. Ambas imágenes creadas simplemente superponiendo fotografías, dejando que el color y la luz natural de Zahara hagan el resto.
Distintas vistas del mismo lugar, capturando la sencilla belleza de Zahara.
Ambas disponibles ahora en la tienda, en tamaños para cualquier pared.
https://coastoflight.etsy.com
At a recent Create & Connect session, we completed the Wartegg Drawing Completion Test, devised by psychologist Ehrig Wartegg in 1934.
The idea is simple. A series of lines and shapes. You complete them. You reveal yourself.
You can read more about it here.
What emerged from it, after sitting with the drawings for a while, was a need to write it all down. The result is this poem. It is called The Aesthete (due to a different personality test) and explores my needs and identity.
Needs Analysis of The Aesthete
I need space, to process internally. I need emotional space: emotionally rich, but not emotionally loud. I need to express my emotional movement. I seek beauty. I seek new and different. I seek the wonders of the world around me.
I need clear and defined. I need reliability, clarity and low drama. I need emotional distance. I seek positivity.
I need focus, discipline, and a sense of forward movement. I need a system of structured freedom. I need fairness, rules, or strategy. I need a few rules I can break. Are you bored reading this yet? I seek art forms that reinforce my optimistic outlook.
I need well-matched. I need grounded expression and balance. I seek sound. I need to be quietly fulfilled. I seek colour.
I need peace, perspective and possibility. I need quiet happiness, nature and imperfection. I seek to wash away the dust of every day life.
I need real and alive. I seek real and alive. I feel real and alive.
The image attached to this post came later: a wall by the bus stop, a face emerging from the cracks, and written in someone else’s hand: En esta esquina, grita conmigo, que haya paz en el mundo. On this corner, shout with me, let there be peace in the world.
It felt like The Aesthete had found a wall to live on.
By Clarence Greenway for Heronbam Books.
Image created by Coast of Light.
COAST of LIGHT 