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| "Clouds Moving In" |
"Clouds Moving In", a 14" x 11" gallery-wrapped acrylic painting, portrays a late morning moment seen on a walk headed away from other beach goers. Happy to have a stretch of beach to myself, I took some reference photos and made notes about colors in the sky and water and the shifting shapes of the restless clouds.
In previous ocean-front paintings (except for a sunrise scene painted for our son and his wife), I usually included dunes, sea oats, walkways, or other additional features of interest. This time, I wanted a view simply of beach, ocean, and sky with the focus on clouds building in the sky--a scene with its own kind of challenge in the simplicity. Preliminary sketches tested various composition possibilities.
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Other projects (and life events) interrupted the painting process a few times. Periodic uncertainty about what to include and what to leave out also slowed the process, but I have finally decided (even with lingering uncertainty about a few aspects) to declare the piece "good enough" and "done". The seabirds rising were the final touch, adding a bit of life and movement to the scene.
The palette for the work let the cool colors dominate with warmer tones in the sand and tinting some of the clouds. I used ultramarine and cerulean blue, Paynes grey, burnt sienna, and titanium white with touches of cadmium red light and cadmium yellow medium in some of the mixes.
Question of the day: Is it sometimes difficult for you to decide when a creative project is good enough to call "done"?
P.S. Sorry the first link above ("previous ocean-front paintings") scoops up so many blog posts, some not as relevant as intended. I couldn't find a way to winnow them down, but feel free to take a look. A quick scroll through the batch will find any that might be of interest to you.
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