This painting has taken me on quite a journey. When I began, I thought I would stay fairly true to the digital study that I created as my reference image but when I started painting, I didn’t like the colours. They were bright but they were not happy. The sky was blue but it was too blue, unrelentingly blue. It was bright and bold but it didn’t feel right.

So I added some texture. And I found ‘the zone’ and added some more texture. Then I blurred the edges a bit. And then a lot. And then I took away some of the bright by adding lots of Titanium White. Oh I’ve had fun with this one. Does it show? So even though I’ve wandered away from my original vision, and in some ways I prefer the digital study, I’ve ended up with something that feels like a hot summer’s day. There’s also a lot of paint on that canvas now and I dare not add any more.

As for the title, I was going to call it ‘Market Day’ or ‘Sunny’ but they’re not very imaginative. My husband calls it ‘Beach Pizza’ (which I will admit I quite like) but I’ve opted instead for ‘SPF 30’ because the day I took the photograph was a very hot day and we really needed the shelter of those sun umbrellas.

‘SPF 30’ may not be what I set out to paint but it is what I wanted to paint.