Beach Boy and Girl, Painting in Progress

I just love painting children on the beach! I guess that there's so much nostalgia involved that it keeps me young, if only in my mind.

Here's a bit of insight into my painting process. For this one, I decided to start with the figures instead of the background. I'll try to capture the warmth of their relationship in this painting.

 

Below, I've started to rough in the water, surf, and sand. I've used lots of earth tones in the sand to give it character, as well as dragged my almost-dry brush sideways across the paper to take advantage of the heavily textured 300 lb Arches cold press paper. 



 

In order to give more interest to the horizon, I've added a distant shore and, since I want to give the water greater depth, I've painted over some of the surf.

 

 

I didn't like the way the water was looking, so I decided to remove it. This is not an easy trick with watercolors, but I'll share some secrets with you. First, wet the brush, then lift and blot as much paint as will come up. Next, use a special short, stiff-bristled brush called a Fabric Dye Brush by Loew Cornell, to lightly scrape the color off. If all else fails because the paint is a staining color, use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!

Now that I improved the colors in the water, I started to define the waves at the near shore.



 

Painting completed! I finished the water by making small, close strokes at the horizon and created longer waves nearer the shore. I also worked on the water and boy's beautiful blond curls, added more bright white foam to the surf, lightened the boy's shirt so that it would move more to the foreground in front of the blue water, and defined the feet.

I hope that you enjoy my new watercolor painting!

Beach Boy and Girl Original Watercolor Painting

Art Prints Available

 

 

 

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