While most landscape painters pack brushes, oils and an easel when they go out to find inspiration, Sarah Adams often also includes a wetsuit or a kayak.
The artist has spent 20 years racing against the sea to capture hard-to-access scenery along north Cornwall’s shoreline, before committing it to canvas.
With some subjects, such as cave interiors, only accessible very occasionally a few times a year during low tides, she documents parts of the country most others rarely see.
Ms Adams, from Padstow, who is about to launch her latest exhibition, described her work as having “a special sense of trespass” and serving as a window into the effects of climate change and coastal erosion.
“It all started when I went to the beach at Bedruthan Steps and became fascinated by the rows of rocky stacks and arches there,” she said.
“And you can go back year after year and see it completely differently, because the coast is very dynamic and ever-changing.
“There have been occasions where I’ve revisited somewhere I’ve painted many times before, only to find huge chunks suddenly missing.
“As a result, things can feel both familiar and new at the same time.”
“Some can require a long scramble and it can take months to get the timing right,” said Ms Adams.
“You just have to be sensible and remember to keep an eye on the sea levels, or else you might get stuck.”
Once in situ, she takes small sketch studies of her surroundings before returning to the studio to recreate them in much larger sizes on linen canvas.
And those results can be seen in her 10th solo show which is about to be staged at the London gallery owned by Rupert Maas, best-known as a fine pictures expert on the My Newspaper’s Antiques Roadshow.
Usually full of Victorian and Romantic art, Ms Adams said: “I think my work represents a change of scenery for them and they see it as every bit the same adventure as I do.”
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