Wet Sand That Glows

They say that in order to be real, to be convincing,  paint what you know best.  First of all, who is "they" anyway?  Nevermind; we know who they are.

If there is one thing I know, it is "my" beach.   I am fortunate enough to be able to walk out my door and there across the road lies three miles of uninterrupted Atlantic shoreline.       I am addicted to my daily beach walk, the sound of the waves, the smell of the salty air and the feel of the cold east wind.  The length of the walk may get impacted by the weather, but unless there is a full fledged Nor'easter in progress, I walk.

Wet Sand Glowing Stage 1

Until I lived here, I never realized how volatile the coast can be.  One day the water is calmly lapping a sandy shore.  The next day a raging surf has scrubbed away five vertical feet of sand, leaving a rocky, lunar like wasteland.   And although tranquility can quickly be whipped up into a stormy surf, the modulating force of the tide provides a cyclic effect that gradually stirs things up or helps things wind down.   The variation is amazing, and over time it has provided many different scenes for me to capture on canvas.

The beach scene that I think is the prettiest occurs at extra low tide when the beach is good and sandy.   The wide strip of wet sand reflects all the seaside subjects, a dawn or dusky sky, dramatic purple clouds, and beach houses all in a row.   In developing my reflections, I roughed in a mirror image of the subject above.  Working vertically, I pulled the dark reflections down over the sand with a big fat house painting brush.   I then cleaned my big brush and pulled the cloud reflections down all the way to the bottom of the canvas.  

Wet Sand Glowing Stage 2

The sand closest to me should be a lot darker than shown in Stage 1.    I worked the ripply sand patterns and drier sand with a mixture of burnt umber, burnt sienna and cobalt blue.  With my palette knife I scraped over the closest sand with this same mixture, leaving behind random bumps and shadows, giving the illusion of seaweed and rocks encroaching on the glowing sand.   

Finally, I sketched in my action figures - three fiesty seagulls, squabbling over a quohog that they can't pick up to crack open anyway.

Overall, I like the concept of this painting.   I'm thinking I may paint it again ... afterall, I made the mistakes once and maybe I'll avoid them the second time around.