Paint a Beach Scene to Cool Off

Beach Day
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
8 x 8 in/20.3 x 20.3 cm
Copyright 2013

The dog days of August are upon us in North America, and I thought a beach scene would be an appropriate way to celebrate the season.

Here's a small acrylic I did recently from a reference photo on a trip to the beaches of Santa Monica, California, USA. These are some of the best beaches in the country, if not the world, especially if you like the cold Pacific waters this or any time of year.

Mixing the correct blues for the water and for those hazy skies over Los Angeles was the painting challenge. The same can be said for mixing believable colors of the sand, not to mention the challenge of painting waves breaking on the shore which, if you paint much water, you already know.

I hope you like it and that it inspires you to paint one, too.