And now for something completely different

Right now I am working on paintings for the Louisa Gould gallery on Martha's Vineyard. Not only do I paint different subject matter than my usual wildlife genre, often I am exploring more vibrant colors.

I've been wanting to paint beach umbrellas. So many fun colors. While I didn't want the beach to be devoid of people, I also didn't want it to look so crowded that the viewer didn't have a place to sit! Working out the composition (including removing a few umbrellas) took some careful planning.

Now we are talking colors! 

I thought the sand would be more difficult. I mixed three sand colors (a light, medium, and dark) and painted more light against dark the closer to the bottom left. I found the less careful I was in placing the color, the more natural the sand looked. A fourth darker cooler color was used for the shadow underneath underneath the umbrellas.

Summer Bouquet

10" X 15"

Original Oil