Durdle Door - Mixed media Oil on emulsion

Among the cliffs between Weymouth and Swanage on the Dorset coast lies the circular bay of Lulworth Cove flanked by a ridge of Jurassic limestone that the sea has pierced at its extremity. This natural arch, known as Durdle Door, I first encountered as a teenager. The walks along the cliffs in this area are exhilarating, the beaches attractive, and the landscape unspoiled by encroachments from suburbia. I painted this sketch with some happy memories in mind of days scrambling among the cliffs with my brother, swimming around the wave washed arch, and diving from its lower ledges.
I love the yellow tinge to the rocks, pebbles, sand and gravel of these long beaches, and the wide sweep of the bays, and the wave-like structure of the cliffs that roll up from sea level to a high grassland plateau and down to the sea again with an easy rounded rhythm. This is the coastland of Thomas Hardy's "Wessex," where straight roads are reminders of Roman planning, and the ripples of earth that ring some of the hills are remains of terraces that bore vines a thousand years ago, and might again if global warming continues. The industrial world has largely passed Dorset by, and the villages retain old-world roots (freed from old-world hardships) and charm even today.
John Dalton, erstwhile art critic of the Guardian newspaper when I was a boy, and his adoring wife Cecily often stayed on a remote farm set back in the hills behind the Chesil bank, and they introduced my father to the owner, who kindly invited us too. So the Dorset coast became part of our lives.

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