"Gulf Sea Oats"

Oil on RayMar - 8x6

SOLD

This panel was painted from sketches and earlier paintings of the view of the Gulf from the dunes at Cape San Blas State Park.

 

Here is my evaluation, and I welcome critiques.

• Sky - OK, I like the hint of yellow in the clouds and the use of ult blue with a hint of cobalt blue.
• Gulf -OK, but it could be a little more to the green side of blue. I used a #6 synthetic bristle to do the waves.
• Dunes - sand is too brown. It needs to be more gray/blue with more blue in the shadows. These dunes are almost as white as snow.
• Dune on the left - too dark and too loosely executed.
• Dune in the foreground - much to much, it's too busy, and ill defined. The bushes are too con color.
• Sea oats - I like a few points that came from the use of a palette knife. Still the color is too same across the picture and too yellow.
• Overall design - the painting is too busy to see if the design works.
• My wife, Patty, suggested that the dune on the left is too tall and seems to dominate the design. It could be shortened to the horizon line or just above.
• Value / Contrast - the values are too close with not enough contrast.