Boys of Summer, in the surf beach paintnigs

Here they come, the boys of summer.  I painted a little batch of beach boys and boogie boards to share this week.  I'll post a different one each day.

Beach Girls - beach painting,playing,blue,ocean,coast

6x6 " oil on cradeled panel.
black sides - ready to hang. 
this time I painted in much the same way as I approach a portrait.  - used a burnt sienna ground, then using a fairly big brush sketched out the composition, adding a little umber to the shadows/darks and wiping the ground away where I want the lightest lights to be.
happy with the feel of this one

Leaving Summer 2 - leaving summer behind series - beach scenes

6x6 oil
another study - and with this one I figured something out....to portray 'leaving' it doesnt really matter which direction the figure is going in but rather how much space is behind! with more beach behind - it looks like the figure is leaving, when there is more beach in the front - it conveys coming. and it would be even better if the shadow was trailing behind too...

All Summer

24"x24" encaustic, collage, oil on board nfs - this ones mine.
my beach boys. Its about to be 'all boys -all summer' in a few short days.....*sigh*

Looking forward to the change of pace however. time to refocus,reevaluate,restart and relax.

packing my pochade box up to keep in the car for some beach day plein airs and also going to experiment with some things.....

Next Up - daily painting, beach scene

6x6" oil on masonite panel.
" Next Up" in the series of beach scenes

Next Set - big

12x12" oil on gessoboard $300
this is the 'bigger' Next Set. Ive done a few versions of this image in different sizes, trying things out. Just like its tough to turn a sketch from a sketchbook into a more complete drawing/painting, it is also hard to paint an image again and bigger. So I kept working this one until I was happy. Had to learn which of my 'big' brushes would be my 'go to' ones and had to learn to keep the freshness...

Next Set 2-daily painting,beach scene

6x6" oil on gessoboard

This is another study for a bigger version of this that will be available at one of my galleries soon (more info later)

Lets Boogie - daily painting,beach scene

6x6" oil on gessoboard
Lets Boogie - boogie boards got alot of action these past few days, lots of waves here. My favorite part of this is the wet reflecting sand and the green wave. Sometimes the curl of a wave is darker and sometimes its a gorgeous light green...

Tweens - daily painting,beach scene

6x6" oil on gessoboard sold

tweens-in between waves, in between sets, in between years,... gotta love them all

Next Set -daily painting,beach scene

6x6" oil on gessoboard sold
The colors of this dont look right on my screen and rather than play with it, I'm going to do laundry :) so please take my word that this looks GREAT in person. (its greener) I was chatting on the phone with a friend and painted this and I love it. These 'in the surf' scenes never bore me. In fact I want to paint a bunch of big ones this summer. Ive gotten picked up by a new gallery(more info on this later) which wants my beachy scenes except bigger so over the next few weeks I'll be focusing on that - still will have some little ones when time allows.

Catch a Wave -daily painting,beach scene

6x6" oil on gessoboard sold

Catch a Wave. Couldnt decide on a title. There are so many decisions when you paint - thats why it can be like meditating because you really have to focus and think and DECIDE. decide what to paint. then the colors and the composition and the technique. Something I wrestle with everytime is how realistic to take the painting. The more I paint the further I want to go from realism. The white water is a good example of this, for me its really fun and more satisfying to paint that 'froth' with very direct brushstrokes leaving all attempts at copying reality far behind but rather trying to achieve a 'feeling' of waves. Itching to try this with a really big canvas and huge brushes....

Have a great weekend everyone!

Endless Summer - daily painting, beach scenes

6x6" oil on gessoboard sold

Endless Summer - remembering those days when a summer seemed to last forever. Catching a wave was the only thing to do.......

***edit*** check out the link to My Boy's Art Blog - look for the little widget on the right side of my blog. Its the spot where my boys will post their art -when the inspiration hits! - and Sister send some of your little artists work and we'll add those too!

Catch a Wave

6x6" oil on masonite
Love this one. Catching a wave, much better than catching the stomach bug -he is home sick today
Got my new postcards today! The cupcake one says "you are sweet", I'll use it as a thankyou note when I ship paintings
*edit* I should add that I made the prints through Overnight Prints

Options- daily painting,children,beach

Options
6x6" oil on masonite panel
this is my new favorite beach painting. love his hair.
*edit* forgot to say: GO RED SOX !!!

Board Buddies, daily painting,children, beach

Board Buddies sold
6x6" oil on masonite panel
I was told that for bloggers its good to put lots of keywords in the title because that is how Google works...SO thats the reason for the wordyness. My daily painting has been a bit sporadic lately. next week will be better, loads of paintings are spinning around my head just waiting to come out! More children at the beach - of course but a few other surprises as well. stay tuned. happy weekend all!

A Summer in the Surf SOLD

6x8" oil on masonite sold