Although the weather has been mild, we thought we would paint a beach scene to put up when winter finally rears its ugly head. I like to propose creating the possibility of 'surprises' in every painting. This time. once the simple layout was roughed in with charcoal, a palette knife loaded with gel medium was scudded over the ocean portion of the scene. In addition, natural sand was affixed to the beach area using the gel. While waiting for that to dry, the sky was painted in, then the beach area. Paint thinned with water was applied to the water area in successive layers until the level of final tone was almost reached. The gel resists the paint, and the area shows up as a lighter value. Finally, more brighter paint is scudded over the surface in successive value and colour layers, and light is added to the beach area. Voila!

While it has been a busy time here, I have had fun painting along with my students. Last week we painted 'surfaces' - forest floor, beach sand, pebbles. I completed (more or less) my pebble painting, adding a sense of water and a leaf for contrast.

Watching one of the Monday students paint a beach with waves got me thinking that would be a nice subject for us to explore this week.  At left is the Ottawa river beach scene I painted last summer. I used a palette knife to scumble in the waves, lots of paint layers to enrich the surface.

So, let's go to the beach together. Add a sunset. Maybe a beached wine bottle... Hope you can come!