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Frozen Toes
A lone surfer stands barefoot at the end of a snow-covered Saltburn Pier, drawn to watch the winter swell roll in beneath the pull of the full moon.
‘For the Love of the Ocean, Surfing and Saltburn’ - Collection
Inspired by... Saltburn's winter skies & a surf photographer
This painting was inspired by two photographs. The first was one I took in Saltburn one December, when the winter sky glowed with soft pinks and purples above the sea. The second was by photographer Dave Beckitt, whose striking image of the winter swell, with a solitary figure standing at the end of Saltburn Pier, featured on page 2 of the book Don't Jump Off the Pier. His photograph inspired me to reimagine the scene from a different perspective, placing a lone surfer at the end of the pier as the winter swell rolls in beneath the full moon.
My aim was to place the viewer in the surfer's position - mesmerised by the spectacle before them and drawn through the snow towards the end of the pier. In that moment, even the cold is forgotten as the moon's pull shapes the ocean into powerful, clean winter waves.
The scene is accompanied in spirit by In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins, reinforcing the emotional tension and sense of anticipation - the feeling that something powerful is gathering just beyond the horizon.
Available to buy
Winter 2026
Limited Edition prints will be available to buy in Winter 2026