There’s just something about the beach that is so calming and so peaceful. I gave myself a special challenge with this piece- to paint entirely from memory and try to create a contemplative work that would pull the viewer into it to find their own quiet serenity. I had the composition planned out in my head, so I didn’t draw any sketches before setting brush to canvas on this one- sometimes you just want to paint what you feel.
Below are the different steps it took to paint this one.
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| warm greys |
I began with an all over warm grey/brown to set up the composition, values and lay-out that were in my mind.
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| background color |
When the previous step had dried overnight, I added in some glazes of color in the sky and water.
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| glazes of color |
Added some deeper green glazes in the far trees, deepened the shadows in the foreground grassy areas, and laid in the color of the sand on the beach, along with more blue glazes in the sky and water.
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| waves and water |
Waves are fun to paint- varying widths of brush strokes, shades of white, glazes for the reflections on the water, the color of the wet sand.
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| beach and grasses |
Beach grasses grow here, there are footprints along the shore, smaller stones and debris have washed up at the edge of the water.
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| stones and driftwood |
As you walk along the beach there are seagulls overhead, and small shorebirds running along the waves. There are piles of larger stones and pieces of driftwood that have washed up during a recent storm. But the storm has passed, and now there is
Yesterday, I took this painting with me to find a frame for it. I found one that suited it well, and as I paid for it, the cashier looked at the painting for a bit, then simply said, “It’s so peaceful”. I agree, how about you?
Prints of this painting are available on my
FAA site.
