Monday, September 8, 2014

Another Day at the Beach

 Another Day at the Beach, 5.5 x 8" watercolor, ©Diane Mannion

Day 8 of 30 

 Typical local scene, this one a path towards Venice Beach in the morning.  Love hearing tourists say..."Wow, look at the color of that water!"  Some days, depending on the weather, it's vivid turquoise,  or if cloudy,  can range from ultramarine to shades of purple.

Used fairly limited palette based on burnt sienna and ultramarine mixture to keep the greens muted so  bright colors would pop.  Kept background trees light in value for atmospheric depth.  Used spatter technique for splashy and loose effect.

Sketched the figures on tracing paper and moved them around over the painting to find the best placement, before painting them in. 
 First stage using ultramarine and burnt sienna.


4 comments:

martine paquet said...

Delightful!
Lucky you to live so close to this incredible water!

Diane Mannion said...

Yes, Martine... I appreciate every day living down here. Thank you for your comment.

Sharon Guy said...

Great watercolor! Very free and loose. Your paintings always look so happy.

Diane Mannion said...

Thanks, Sharon! Painting makes me happy, funny how that works. Paint with you soon.