July Beach Day in Harwich

Maureen Painting at Harwich Beach -
Photo courtesy of Julia Hatch

Sunny, breezy and mid-eighties.    That was a forecast that got people young and old to their nearest beach on Cape Cod.   For us, that beach was in beautiful Harwich facing Nantucket Sound at the end of Pleasant Road.     I set up early in some shade from the pine trees that bordered the beach parking lot.     The light on the canvas was not ideal, but I hoped that by comparing all my color mixes in the sun against the scene, that it would turn out okay. 



Harwich Beach Day Stage One

Lots of people stopped by to observe and/or chat.   I'm used to it now, and have discovered that the curious want to be painters, but for whatever reason, haven't gotten into it yet.   On this day I met a couple on an eight week USA road trip (in a Prius by the way), a guy who sketches with charcoal and/or pencils, a teacher on vacation with her daughter, a middle school youngster who told me he had no talent in art, but was a pretty good baseball player and finally, a lovely, young woman who was a photographer from Vermont.   She took some great photos and was kind enough to send some to me to use in this blog post.   (Thank you Julia!)



Harwich Beach Day Stage Two

My eyes had a rough time looking at the blinding light in this beach setting.   I left my sunglasses on while I sketched in the placement lines, but once I start mixing colors, they had to come off - for color accuracy.       I decided to include the couple with the colorful beach umbrella in the foreground and the lifeguard stand further in the distance.   



Maureen Painting at Harwich Beach -
Photo courtesy of Julia Hatch

The light was warm and the shadows were cool and since there was more sand than any other element in the painting, it was important to get the heat into the sunlit sand,  I mixed in naples yellow and hints of cadmium red (along with titanium buff).   The cool shadowed sand was painted with asphaltum (a Gamblin transparent brown), cobalt blue and a bit of titanium buff.

Time flew and two hours into the painting, things were very different.   I was now in the sun, the shadows had moved and there were twice as many people on the beach.   My sister was now on a chair in front of me, no doubt waiting for my lively conversation so it was time to take a swim and get on a beach chair myself!

Harwich Beach Day Stage Three