Duxbury Beach in August

Duxbury Beach August Afternoon - Stage One

For this afternoon paint out, I set up on the first crossover to the left after entering Duxbury Beach Reservation from Gurnett Road.    It was one hour until high tide, which was perfect for a painting session of two hours.   There were lots of people enjoying the beach, most of them clustered further down the beach near the bathhouse building.




Duxbury Beach August Afternoon - Stage Two

Duxbury Beach August Afternoon Stage Three

This canvas had a peachy underpainting which turned out to be a good color to let show through for the sand and grasses.  I began though, with the pretty summer sky, pthalo blue and titanium white with small cottonball clouds.  I learned from my Naval defense circles that the deep water vessels are called "blue water" vessels and shallow water, and more maneuverable watercraft are called "green water" vessels and it is no wonder looking at today's water.    The deeper sea horizon line was dark ultramarine blue, gradually lightening and turning more green toward the sandy shore.   The sand was peachy taupe and I added some pink for the fun of it.   The mature dune grasses were tall and leaning toward the beach from the westerly wind off the marsh.   The grass colors were beginning to turn yellowish gold (a mix of raw sienna, naples yellow, and various greens).  

The long beach was fairly populated, and it seemed that they were mostly in clusters.   I added some of the groups of people and also added few swimmers.    I began the people groups with a slender horizontal shadow line on the sand.   I then pulled skinny strands of paint up from the horizontal shadow to create the individuals.   The snow fence posts, large to small, walk the viewer down the beach to the bathhouse.