Night Surf

Night Surf captures Fistral Beach transformed by floodlights during one of its evening surfing events. Rather than focusing on the surfers themselves, the painting explores the temporary world created around them, a familiar stretch of coastline illuminated for a few hours before returning to darkness.

The original photograph behind Night Surf was taken at Fistral Beach when night surfing competitions were still held there.

What caught my attention wasn't the surfing itself. In fact, there aren't any visible surfers in the painting.

I didn't paint the surfers. I painted the event around them.

Lines of floodlights stretch across the beach towards the sea, illuminating a landscape where we wouldn't normally expect to find this kind of artificial light. The Headland Hotel, Fistral complex and RNLI station provide familiar landmarks, while a small RNLI vehicle sits on the beach and much of the surrounding coastline disappears into darkness.

It was the floodlights that made me want to paint the scene.

We're accustomed to seeing them above football pitches, stadiums and car parks, but seeing that same intense light cast out towards the sea felt completely different. For a few hours, the event created its own kind of temporary daylight, transforming part of the beach into an illuminated gathering place while everything beyond it remained dark.

That surrounding darkness became just as important as the light. Rather than being empty space, it funnels the eye towards the event and emphasises how temporary this brightly lit world really is.

The Night Surf events have since become part of Fistral's past, giving the painting an unexpected additional role: a record of a familiar place temporarily transformed by an event that once brought people together after dark.

Night Surf
Original painting — coming soon