Sunday, June 22, 2008

Malibu beach and pier


I spent Saturday morning with my son Craig and my brother Dean on a plein aire painting outing. We were originally going to go to Vasquez rocks to paint, but considering it was predicted to be about 110 degrees F, we opted for the beach.

It was still warm at Malibu, but MUCH cooler than inland. It was a beautiful day and the beach was full of people escaping the heat and there was a nice breeze which kept readjusting my umbrella and palette.

This water color was done on an Arches 10" x 14" 300lb block. I probably spent 2 hours painting. Because these are learning exercises for me there are parts I like and parts that I feel didn't come off so well. I decided to post it for the sake of the good parts and to keep the continuity of all the sketch paintings. If I were to do a version of this as a studio painting, I would work out a stronger value pattern and vary it a bit from what I actually observed for the sake of a stronger painting.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

For me the bad parts are as important as the good part, this is what make a strong sketch/drawing/painting for me, it doesn't have to be perfect. would be boring.
I really love this one and especially the people on the beach, superb!

Mackay Family said...

Dad-- I need to call dibs on this one if you ever feel the need to distribute. This is the picture I have in my mind when I think of going to the beach as a kid...Great job!

sponie said...

Thanks, Stef. Coming from you that means a lot.

Craig Mackay said...

Really fun painting with you and Dean. Definitely gotta do it again. 4th of July weekend or the week after. What do you say we do some architecture next time?

sponie said...

July 4th has come and gone. Maybe in 2 weeks. What do you suggest for Architecture? What about Ventura where it will be cool and where there are cool old buildings and mission?

Craig Mackay said...

Ventura might be nice. We haven't gone that far north so that would be fun. Dean could take the 126 to get there.