A PAINTING AT THE BEACH

BEACH IN WINTER  watercolor 6.5x11 inches

A two-week stretch of sunny weather ended a few days ago.  I went to our beautiful beach on many of those days and went for walks and painted from my car.  I worked on this piece on 4 different trips at the same time of day. 

I left out tire tracks in the snow.  It always irritates me that people drive all over this area.  It's about a mile from the dock to where you can't walk or drive anymore because of a slough, and many folks seem to need to drive as far as they can.... there is always a place to park on the road and walk.

There are three rare lady slipper orchids amongst the trees that I go to see in bloom every year and I fear  that some vehicle is going to obliterate them.

POINT ADOLPHUS

POINT ADOLPHUS gouache painting 10.5x7.5

 I've been trying to not paint from photographs for much of the last year, and have mostly been using oils.  But this painting  that I had started  and struggled with  for close to two years needed finishing. I used  several photos that I had taken years ago while fishing with my husband,  .... and this month I finally cut a mat and found a frame for it.   

At first I worked  with transparent watercolor.  I spent hours painting every tree and wiped most of them out.  Then I got out the gouache and after at least one more wiping out, finally finished it.  The paintings was originally taller with snow on the top of the mountain and more water.... many hours of work got cut off, but its a much better composition. The kayaker was the final touch.

 I had put a whale in the water at one time.  Point Adolphus, not too far from here, is a prime spot for observing humpbacks.  I'm not sure if this rocky outcrop  is actually the "point" but it is close.  I looked at Google Images to see if there was a photo of it, and almost all that's there are images of whales.

FOGGY AFTERNOON

FOGGY AFTERNOON watercolor 7.5 x 7.5 inches

It must be time to start posting here again, since here I am writing again. 

The trees outside my studio window get drawn and painted a lot.   Many days they are just a dark mass but they looked like this for several days earlier this month.