A wonderfully characterful original painting by Cornish artist Steve Camps, depicting a monumental violet whale moving through a pale blue sea. A three-masted sailing vessel passes along the distant horizon, while a small lighthouse or navigation marker punctuates the composition to the right.
Camps plays deliberately with scale and perspective, allowing the enormous whale to dominate the composition while the ship and maritime details become almost miniature by comparison.
Details
Artist: Steve Camps (b.1957) Title: Big Violet Date: 2026 Medium: Oil on board Signature: Signed lower right Verso: Whale drawing and dated 2026 Artwork size: 16 × 26 cm (6.5 × 10 in) Framed size: 27.5 × 37.5 cm (10.8 × 14.8 in) Condition: Excellent condition. Provenance: Consigned by the artist.
Cornish Naive Art
Whales, sailing vessels, fishing boats, lighthouses and the Cornish sea recur throughout Steve Camps' work. His paintings use simplified forms, flattened perspective and an intentionally direct approach to storytelling.
About the Artist
Steve Camps (b.1957) is a self-taught Cornish artist best known for his distinctive naive paintings of whales and maritime subjects. Born in Cornwall, Camps spent much of his working life as a builder before beginning to paint following his retirement in 2023.
