Morning Gratitude

In Celebration of Easter:  Sun Rise

This is the view at sunrise from the house we rent in Nags Head NC each year.  Often, as I look out our bedroom door (with bleary eyes), I see my early-rising-mother already walking the beach for her quiet time of morning gratitude.  There's no better way to start the day.

Knowing that I wanted the sea oats to greet the sun with a rim of its radiance, I intentionally intensified the colors of the warm morning glow in my first layer of paint.

I then moved to the sun, sea, and sky and found myself almost having to squint at the sun's brilliance as it came to life.

In this final step, I worked on the cool sandy areas of the dune, providing an entrance for the viewer to step to the beach and quietly enjoy a moment of morning gratitude.
Morning Gratitude, 16x20 Oil, available 

(Here's the reference photo again for comparison)

Down Under

In 2014, we took a trip to Australia (highly recommend!)  On our drive up the east coast between Cairns (pronounced "Cans") and Port Douglas, we stopped at this beautiful, but desolate beach.  I suspect the crocs and stingers (deadly jellyfish) had something to do with the desolation, but nonetheless it was an incredibly peaceful place to take a break from driving on the wrong, um, I mean the left, side of the road.  The sun was setting, the shadows were long, and this weather-worn branch rose from the sand in a graceful statement of solitude.  Simply lovely.

 By the way, I wasn't joking about the crocs and stingers! :)

I cropped my original photo to focus more on the graceful shape of the driftwood.

Then I covered my drawing with warm colors (okay, it's all orange) to contrast with what I knew was going to be a cool painting.

In this step, I covered the dark areas to make sure I liked the way it makes the eye move around the composition (I do!)

After establishing all of the "under structure", the rest of the process involved trying to make sure I didn't mess it up!  :) 

Down Under, 8x10 oil, available

Golden Oats

My favorite time of day to be at the beach is late afternoon ... the sand is cooler, the colors are richer, the shadows offer dramatic contrasts, and the hustle and bustle settles into a quiet peace.  Golden Oats celebrates that time of day.

I started with this image, from a glorious afternoon in Nags Head, NC. 

After sketching basic placements, I squinted my eyes at the photograph and painted an undercoat of cool colors for the shadowed, darker valued areas that I saw.  From this beginning, I felt that it would be a strong composition, leading the viewer's eye in from the bottom left and then moving around to the steps, followed by the dunes on the right, and then  back to the entry point.  At least that's what my eye does :) 

In the first coat of thicker paint, I tried to stay true to my initial dark/light composition while laying in more accurate colors.

This next, and final, step took the most time, with lots of subtleties to show depth, but I feel that it successfully captures my favorite beach time of day.

Golden Oats, 12x16, SOLD

 

Meeting at Elbow Beach

In honor of our family reunion "Beach Week", which starts today (yay!), I am featuring one of my favorite scenes of the beach.  Okay, Bermuda isn't exactly where we go for our family reunion, but it is the right theme :) 

This view is on Elbow Beach in the early evening.  I love the long shafts of light that drape the soft sand and then highlight the ocean foam.  The foam, in turn, seems to point towards the beach walkers, which can make for a romantic story...

Here's the original photo:

And here I have cropped the photo to emphasize the long shadows and to better balance the composition.  Cropping the top of the tallest palm tree was important to stop your eye from following the sky off the canvas and to decrease the attention the palm trees were commanding.

My goal in translating this scene was to capture the glow of the pink coral sand that so often defines the colors of Bermuda.  Add to that a bevy of backlit palm trees and the intrigue of two lovers yet to meet and you have the perfect end to a leisurely beach day.

Meeting at Elbow Beach

18x36 Oil

Available at  The Little Art Gallery

One More from Colley Whisson

I had so much fun at the workshop I took last week with Colley Whisson that I wanted to paint more of his style this week.  Here's a painting I created in my studio using my favorite of Colley's paintings as reference.  I love how the warm colors of the dried grasses really add excitement to the cool colors of the rest of the scene.

It depicts a typical beach day, doesn't it?  You can get sun burned and rained on all in the same hour!  I call my rendition of his painting "Partly Sunny".

Partly Sunny, 8x10 Oil

I haven't posted any of my Colley Whisson paintings on my website yet because I'm pretty sure I want to keep them for my own reference.  Sorry!  :)

King of the Palms

Since today is Palm Sunday I am posting a small painting from Hilton Head titled King of the Palms, in honor of the King who was hailed in Jerusalem nearly 2000 years ago.  

Hosanna!

One of the many things I love about Hilton Head, in South Carolina, is the way the trees (a blend of live oaks, pines, and palm trees) come so close to the sandy beach.  They add a fresh dimension of green to accent the warm, soft hues of the beach grasses.  Sprays of wild flowers add another layer of color and texture (as well as inviting loads of butterflies).

To capture the feel of the soft grasses, and to add depth to all the "green" the camera saw, I chose to emphasize the warm orange hues of the dried grasses that I remembered.  I had fun with the foreground flowers and sea oats, making the paint thicker and using a palette knife for texture instead of a paint brush.  

Happy Palm Sunday!

  King of the Palms, available

6x6 Oil, framed

click for purchase information

Sea Oats

Every summer my family goes on vacation to Nags Head NC for one of our favorite weeks of the year and for precious time spent with family from literally all over the globe.   This view is from the mid-level balcony of our beach house.  

While arguably a beautiful view, especially with the graceful sea oats of August, my camera could not fully capture what I saw -- the drama of the evening sun draping its way through the sea oats and beckoning up the stairs.  As an artist, the drama of the sunlight and the sense of welcome were what I sought to capture

 

 I began my painting by "sketching" the basic shapes of the scene with orange (since it complemented the blues) and then laid in thin paint as a road map for my darks and lights as well as my warm and cool colors.  This was a great way to work out how I wanted the viewer's eye to move through the painting.  I was careful to plan for more cools than warms and darks than lights because I wanted the warm sun-lit stairs to be the center of interest. 

At this stage of the painting process, an artist has to have great faith and not listen to passers-by who say, "Um.  Interesting."  :)

 As I laid paint on more thickly, keeping my darks largely "transparent" and my lights more opaque, I tried to stay faithful to my initial road map.  By reserving the purest colors, sharpest edges, and greatest contrast for the center of interest, I had fun making it, well, interesting!

  Sea Oats, not available

8x16 Oil

Sometimes one painting isn't enough when it's a scene I love.  Here's a slightly larger and different take on the same wonderful view.

Sea Oats of August, SOLD

12x24 Oil