Tag: sand

Beaches & Sea Grass

Nearly everyone I know loves the beach, but there are exceptions.  Mostly, they don’t like sand!  To me, sand is one of the best parts of the beach.  Barefoot, sinking into sand as the tide goes out, walking on warm sand.  Watching the sand skitter across the beach with the wind, in lines or swirls.  Hearing the waves come in and out, a whisper to a roar.  Walking in sand can also be hard work!  And then, the plants.  Grasses, strange sea radishes (that are rather tasty), sea weed and other flotsam.  All these make a beach.

Time of day gives a beach character – blinding high noon, subtle dawn, fiery sunset.  All these add to the experience.  Weather, too.  Wind, rain, snow.

Where you live also adds character to the beach.  Northern, southern, tropical.  Rocky, cliffs, sand white as snow to black as night  Birds, too, and other animals live along the shore.  Beaches are magical worlds wherever they are found.

Mussel Beach

Mussels An overcast morning at El Matador State Beach in Malibu, California. Grey skies. And, in my haste for this spontaneous trip, I forgot my ND110 filter for the wide angle lens! I couldn’t get any long exposures of the water . . . I wanted to try that doing bracketing. Afterwards, lunch at Tony’s Taverna, the best place for Greek food in L.A.

Rocks & Shells

Rocks

As with sumi-e painting, in watercolor painting, much is to be learned from observation.  Recently, I purchased a video by Birgit O’Connor.  As an artist, she excels in vivid, colorful, large and intimate perspectives of flowers, but in looking on YouTube, she also can do a lot more than flowers.

The video I bought is Rocks, Sand & Sea Glass.  What makes it excellent for me is that she is very clear in her demonstrations, and more importantly, clear in her verbal explanations.  Her voice is nicely modulated, and proceeds at an even pace.  I really like the fact she identifies the brush she uses so explicitly, such as “my number 30 natural hair brush.”  Detailed as it seems, it allows the viewer to hear while watching.  I don’t have to sit and stare at her brush to think about what one she is using because she tells me.

In addition to watching, practice is paramount.  Seriously, you have to sit down and do it.  And do it again and again.  I know this about painting, because brushes vary, papers vary, my mood varies, and colors vary.  Self-control is necessary.  So is practice.  Having something interesting to paint makes it more fun.

Mussel Shells

Brushwork is so critical – knowing how to use a brush, how to load color, how to move the brush, maneuver it for shape, and how much pressure to apply.  How the paper responds is also important, simply because different papers have different characteristics, as well as come in different grades.

These are what I’ve produced.  More will come, as my supplies show up, too!  Thank goodness for Dick Blick and Amazon!