An artist swapped her paint brush for a garden rake to re-create a giant version of a famous 123-year-old masterpiece on a deserted beach.
Claire Eason, 55, spent four hours painstakingly etching the image into the sand on Beadnell Bay in Northumberland before the tide washed it away.
She created the 50-foot-long beach drawing as a birthday surprise for one of her friends who is a fan of 19th-century Scandinavian Skagen artists.
The masterpiece, titled “Summer Evening on Skagen Beach,” was originally painted by Danish artist Peder Severin Kroyer in 1899.
Retired general practitioner Claire took up art after moving from her home in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, to be closer to her favorite Northumberland beaches.
“I wanted to surprise a friend for his 80th birthday who told me his interest in the Skagen group of artists,” she said.
“I looked through their work and found the Peder Kroyer Summer Evening on Skagen Beach painting.
“The scene looked very Northumbrian to me, and the elegant couple with their black dog.
“I traced the figures out on paper and mapped out how I would re-create it on the beach in time for the tide to lap up close to the couple.
“The piece lasted about an hour before the tide came in but that is part of the magic of beach art.”
Friends Read Free