In the midst of this massive snow storm here in Montreal, I feel the need to post a few beach paintings. Here, I was sitting on a very hot beach in Valencia, a big city on the Mediterranean, painting an interesting scene that includes several colourful boats, warm sand, and the emerald blue sea. The sky is a stark, baby blue with not a cloud or snow flake in sight. Has it ever snowed in Valencia?
I'll pick up a bit on yesterday's blog where I described how to paint fire (without burning your brush), and explain how to paint sand. In fact, painting sand is a lot like painting fire, they are both very light values (value is a term that means the lightness or darkness of an object), and they both cast a lot of light on their surroundings. To paint sand I usually use a combination of a light yellow (aureolin or lemon yellow) and rose madder genuine (or permanent rose) with a little bit of emerald green (a thick, light green). Then I place a few little dark highlights to enhance the value contrast of the sand; In the above example I placed a few darker shadows on the sand, and adjacent, a few dark shadows of the boat and the dark cool sea. Finally, I fill the shadows under the boat with pale orange highlights to depict the hot sun reflecting off the beach.
Now, can I paint myself into the scene?
Playa de la Malva-rosa, Two row boats, watercolour 5 x 8" cold press, 1998 (No. 0891)
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