Perranporth Beach V is inspired by the famous Perran Sands beach in Cornwall.  The beach is surrounded by tall cliffs and rolling dunes which are home to an array of wildlife from, lizards to butterflies. At the southern end of the beach are some interesting rock formations with a couple of large arches and several stacks. There is also Chapel Rock in the middle of the beach with its small tidal bathing pool. Perranporth Beach was winner of the Seaside Award 2022.

At low tide the beach extends from Droskyn Point to Penhale Point, just over 2 miles. The stretch towards Penhale is backed by a dune system that includes St Piran’s Cross and the ruins of an ancient church.

Perranporth is an area shrouded in Cornish myth and legend. It is said that in the 5th century AD Saint Piran, the patron saint of Cornish miners, was tied to a mill-stone and thrown off the cliffs in Ireland.

Rather than sinking, the seas immediately became calm and he floated across the water all the way to Cornwall, where he washed up on Perran Sands, adjacent to Perranporth. Saint Piran built a Christian oratory behind the beach, whose ruins still stand today.

Today, Perranporth’s Atlantic swell attracts surfers from far and wide, but it is a little known fact that the very roots of British surfing are owed to the area. In the 1930s, after seeing the popularity of surfing in countries such as Australia and South Africa, Brits returning home were determined to acquire their own boards. Tom Tremewan, a Perranporth local, created some of Britain’s earliest surfboards from whatever wood he had handy..

I like to work in oils because of their versatility. You can layer the paint so that it has a translucency. Also It is so robust a medium I can scrape the paint back or scratch into it too.