Painting on the Beach
The photo on the left is the original, washed out by the intensely bright sun on the beach. The one on the right was enhanced via iphoto -- not how it was, but easier to see on the computer screen.
Given that the temperature falls a little bit everyday, trees are already changing their colors and dropping acorns, and students are returning to classes, I thought it time to post photographs of my most summer-full experience.
During the week of July 17th, I was able to paint my heart out on the beaches of Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Just about every day, the sun shone with wonderful intensity. I headed out each bright morning to one of the great bay or ocean beaches, armed with large umbrella, big hat, sunscreen, and as many painting supplies as I could manage. My most important tool was my Pochade box, a very small wooden box that flipped open to reveal a palette and had space inside for my brushes, paints, mediums, and brush washing supplies. The cover worked as my easel and held up the panel or canvas on which I painted. I worked with the box on my lap (as you can see here if you try real hard) or I put the box on a tripod and painted while I stood (a much better way to paint). Guerilla Painter (click here for www.GuerillaPainter.com) is a wonderful source for these boxes that come in a variety of sizes.
Favorite paintings were the sketches in oil that I did on paper, resin impregnated carton panels. There is something magical about painting on paper. Below are two sketches that are now on my studio wall to provide inspiration. They feature the dunes with which I fell in love and was compelled to paint. The one of the left was done at Secret Beach, one of our favorite spots in Wellfleet. The one on the right, from Newcomb Hollow Beach, is unfinished. The sun that day was just too relentless and the wind much too strong. My paints melted, my skin burned, and I tired of chasing my umbrella and used paper towels across the beach. So, I stopped the painting early. My dehydrated, sunburnt collapsed body on the beach would not have made for a pretty picture; but, while in the midst of doing a painting -- what a way to go!
