Sunny Morning

Sunny Morning

Mixed Media - Gouache and Pastel 5x7

This small study is another exercise in mixing pastel and gouache.  I like the wash and tone I can get with gouache as well as the precise details while the pastel is at hand to add sparkle and to tie the painting together.

I selected this view of the ocean and beach through a gap in the dunes to emphasize clear brightness of the morning, the brisk sea breeze, the building waves, and the coming heat of the day.

"Ponte Vedra Dunes"

Pastel on sanded Arches Watercolor paper

29 x 21 1/2

Completed 11/10/2009

This pastel is an expansion of an earlier pen and ink drawing of the dunes back from Ponte Vedra Beach. For this pastel I reworked the design, added color in the gailardia and other flowers, and changed the perspective. My desire was to recreate the atmosphere of a late afternoon as the sun begins to cast longer shadows across the dunes. It is that time of day that the sea breeze is the strongest, and a few clouds begin to form along the beach moving inland to the west.

Obviously, this painting was not done as a "daily painting," but I include it for reference.

Rick Petersen