A Trip to the Beach

I recently escaped winter on a trip to Florida.

I took lots of photos, and sketched while I was on the beach.

When I returned home, I extended my travel experience by painting from some of my photos.

I laid out each painting with a few pencil marks, then painted the sky, with large washes first, blotting the wet paint with a paper towel to create clouds.  After the first washes dried, I added shadows to the sky and clouds.  

I worked on both of these little paintings at the same time, practicing my painting on the vertical version, and then repeating each step on the horizontal layout.

When the paint was dry in the sky, I began laying in washes for the ocean and waves, avoiding painting the white foamy areas.  When each layer was dry, I added another layer, building up colors and complexity.  I finished with layers of earthy brown beach sand.

The wet sand along the shore was darker.

After all of the paint had dried, I added some cloud reflections on the water with a white gel pen and white acrylic ink applied with a dip pen.  Above are the tools I used.

I propped up the finished paintings with a few seashells on my art table to remind me of the Florida sunshine.

I hope you'll dig out some old vacation photos and create art from them.  It's a lovely way to extend the joy of a getaway.

Happy Creating!