Wet Sand, Wet Feet

Pastel on UArt, 6x9

When the tide is out, the wet, hard sand reflects the scattered clouds and deep blue sky. As the tide starts to come in, we may get our feet wet, but that's good too.
This painting was done to demonstrate painting scattered clouds and blue sky, and I added  the beach to give the clouds a sense of time and place.

Atmospheric Perspective on the marsh

"Atmospheric perspective" - value and color become less distinct and dramatic as distance increases. Soft edges are the result, but soft edges do not mean imprecise, blurred, or fuzzy edges. This is particularly true on the marsh. The horizon can be very distinct, but it is so close in value among the sky, the water, the tree line, and the distant marsh that the casual glance fails to see the distinction. That is the "problem" I'm facing in my current project. I must create soft edges with precision and keep them from looking fake.