The Beach At Trouville (Monet copy)

Here is my copy of Monet’s "The Beach at Trouville". I did it in my early twenties when I was first playing with oil paints (I bought an easel, loads of paints and bottles of strange liquid from a woman in a tower block in Manchester.)

I saw the painting in a book and tried to copy it but paintings on a page are deceptive - you never know if the originals are as small as a mouse mat or big as a snooker table. Later I found out that Monet’s paintings are usually big so I was surprised when I came across this one in the National Gallery in London. Its only about 18" wide. I was aimlessly walking around when I spotted it and thought, "Hang about, that’s looks familiar, I'm sure I've painted that," and when I returned home I went up in the attic and found my copy.

You’re not supposed to take photos in the National Gallery but when the guard wasn’t looking I took a quick shot (sorry, it’s a bit blurred.)

Monet painted it on the beach at Normandy in the summer of 1870. The lady on the left is probably his wife Camille (who had been his mistress for about fifteen years.) That summer the Franco-Prussian War began and Monet, his wife and son were heading for London so he wouldn’t be called up to fight.

I got up close to this painting in the National Gallery and there're definitely grains of sand on it so it was probably done on the beach. It’s not very good is it? I mean look at those faces - they’re a bit hopeless.