Beach Springtime

Pastel over Watercolor & Ink

One of the surest signs of spring is the explosion of green grass and shrubs through the gray and brown stubble of the winter.  The wind from the south blows away the remaining clouds and lets the sunlight flood the dunes.

Early Morning Shadows

Pastel over Watercolor & Ink, 5x7

As the sun rises above the low clouds in the early morning, the light casts the dunes and the ridges in sharp contrasts of light and shadow.

Beach Way, A Study

Pastel over ink and watercolor, 5x7

Along Neptune Beach, the low dunes are punctuated with paths that have provided access to the beach for years, the paths are well marked with the footprints of others who have come this way.  With the breaking clouds, the beach beckons with a clear invitation.

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Gray Day, A Study

Pastel over ink and watercolor, 5x7

This is my view of the walkway to the beach from Walnut Avenue in Neptune Beach.  The day was gray and mostly overcast and the wind was steady and strong from the south west.  The waving sea oats and the soft light give the scene a feeling that heavy weather is coming.

Marsh Palms II, Study

Completed work - Pastel over watercolor and ink on paper

This study was conceived to capture the contrast between the flat marsh and the soaring palms and pines.  I set these against the rising clouds of an early morning.

Watercolor underpainting over ink drawing.  I used the watercolor to set the basic values and contrasting colors for the painting.

Dawn Palms, Study

Pastel over Ink and Watercolor on Paper, 5x7

This is a commission painting.  The collector wanted a beach scene with palm trees to balance a painting she already had.  I developed this painting to match color combinations and time of day with her original painting to make a pair.

White Dunes, a Study

Pastel over watercolor and ink on paper, 5x7

In the early morning, the dunes reflect more of the blue and gray of the sky, and at times they look like snow.  As the sea breeze gains strength, the air is clear and bright accenting the colors of the sea oats.

Expectations - Revision

"Expectation" Pastel on UArt - completed February 2014.

This painting, though pleasing, seemed to lack something. It was just there with nothing special.

I started my examination by creating a smaller, 5x7, with ink and watercolor on paper to explore new colors, forms, and values.

My first step was to do an ink line drawing from the original.

 

Over this ink sketch I added watercolor indicate the continuation of the pinks and lavenders into the salt marsh to replace some of the green.

 

Adding the color to the clouds, pointed out another basic difficulty with the original piece - that is that the bottoms of the clouds are all too flat.  The study, however, was too far along to make changes in either the drawing or the watercolor, so I sprayed the watercolor with fixative and applied a layer of clear gesso. This will help support substantial revisions when I apply the pastel.

 

 

"Evneing Clouds" - gave this 5x7 and new name.

This is the final rework of the 5x7.  I reduced the clouds by about 1/3, softened all the edges, expanded the water in the foreground, and reduced the colors to 3 - blue, orange, and purple (with just a touch of pink). Then I added just a little green for contrast and punched up the colors and values in the salt marsh.  Took a new photo which is much better.