Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Beach Study

I've been meaning to work on some quick study oil paintings lately. Dean pointed out to me several months ago that this is important thing to do - to "practice" painting, creating quick pieces, without the pressure that each painting has to be "great".

I did my first study with him almost two years ago, from a photo of a boy running on the beach. It was a very good lesson in quick study, and color mixing. I think the entire process of that painting took under 30 minutes.

Today I decided to do a study from a photograph I had taken of the beach in Cape Town. I tried to remind myself not to dwell too long on details, and to paint with larger, broader strokes.

I mixed the paints of the different colors in the water first - five at first, as well as the sky color and the beach color.

I put these in on the canvas with larger brushes, just filling it in without worrying too much about the details.

After, I worked on the figures, which, while there is some amount of detail, are still quite loose. It's not perfect, by any means, but that's kind of the point I guess. (Now that I see the two images next to each other, my rocks in the background and the waves near them, are much larger in my painting. It's a much more tumultuous day at the beach in my interpretation!) I like the looseness of it, and how (I think) there's still motion in it.

I spent about 2.5 hours on it in total. It was a really good exercise for me to try. I should try to do more of these to loosen up and just practice. :)


original image


"Study - Cape Town Beach"
2014
oil on canvas
6 x 12 inches


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