Coastal Paintings

My coastal paintings are inspired by both my father, who was born in Lowestoft in 1928 and the Herring Girls or the Scottish Lassies. The Herring Girls were women who followed the Herring as they migrated down the East Coast of Scotland and England. They started in Stornoway on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and would travel over several months gutting and preparing the fish that the trawlermen caught at various ports down the East Coast, through Scotland, Northumbria, Cleveland, Yorkshire, Humberside, Norfolk and ending in Lowestoft. As a young boy, my father and his sisters would often try and work with the Herring Girls when they came to Lowestoft in order to earn some extra pocket money. It would have been a big event in the town each year which was eventually stopped due to overfishing.

I will talk about these further in my blog and podcasts here as I make the journey, albeit virtually on a static bike in my lounge. However I also aim to eventually visit all the various places down the entire East Coast, painting them as they are now and these are the start of those paintings in the North East.

^{Saltburn by the Sea Trio – oil paintings 30″ x 30″ 2023-24}