Mx.D.P

In summer, when we have one, I often paint outside on the beach. If I do workshops, the painting bench is used to work at or for a cuppa.

The painting bench has a long history. It’s got to be 15 years old. The lads first made it from the Parachute Regiment because when they came around, there wasn’t enough seats, so they made it to sit 30!

It used to be a much longer bench, but when we moved to the beach, it wouldn’t fit in the removal van. The lads sawed the middle bit off and brought the two ends, so one became two!

As my beach garden grew, I gave one bench away, which rotted and was eventually burnt on a beach bonfire, and now there is only one…

But even this bench is now rotting and unsafe, so it will have to be replaced this winter, probably with bench made from recycled decking. Nothing lasts forever on the beach, and it has been known for the bench and the tubs to be washed away during the winter storms and rescued from further along the beach.

I liked the photos I took of the paintings for the climate workshop on the bench.

I wondered what would happen if I used the bench as the substrate and painted onto the bench using the same techniques and materials I’ve developed for the Climate Conversation workshops.