Lindy Whitton Studio

I’ve always meant to walk into South Cape on the track that leaves from Cockle Creek, which is the end of the road in southern Tasmania, so the furthest you can drive south in Australia, and I finally got round to it a few weeks ago.

It was a stunning early autumn day and Trevor and I had an easy 2 hour walk in and then spent a couple of hours walking the beach, eating lunch, swimming, sketching and exploring the rocks. We both took many photos and I knew I would be painting the area soon!

A couple of weeks later I was ready to paint. I wanted to focus on the flat rocks at the edge of the beach because they were fascinating with lots of seaweed and channels with swirling water surging in and out. They add a really bright pop of colour to the foreground.

I mostly use Colourifx Original or Smooth pastel paper but for this one I broke into my small stash of Sennelier La Carte paper. I love La Carte but it’s not available locally so it’s a little luxury for me. I don’t really know how to describe why I love La Carte other than to say that the pastel glides on and I can create a painting with limited layers and get a very fresh and immediate result very quickly. Give it a try if you want to move to a more loose and minimalist approach…it’s very sympathetic to that style.

I mostly used Rembrandt and Unison pastels and this was done in 35 minutes. Let me know if you’re a fan of La Carte as well!