Main Beach, Straddie – Time to Go Home
Aside from his own artistic skills, this painter has also learned to utilise the considerable skills of his framer … to achieve unique and worthwhile final outcomes.
STEP ONE
Using a Number 12 flat brush, I blocked in the canvas with a mix of Ultramarine Blue and a touch of Alizarin Crimson – roughly where the sky, far background hills and water would be.
I blocked in some land areas with Medium Yellow. I thinned the paint with Liquin Number 4.
STEP TWO
I picked up some Titanium White and painted in the top-left hand sky, blending with the background colour.
Next I mixed some Alizarin Crimson with a touch of Ultramarine Blue and painted in the far background; then blended some Titanium White into the top section, for the very far distance.
In a mix of Lemon Yellow, a touch of Titanium White and a speck or two of Ultramarine Blue, I added some Alizarin Crimson. With this colour, using a sabre brush, I scrambled in some rough foliage.
STEP THREE
Using a palette knife, I took a mix of Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson and wiped on random swipes of paint over the background foliage. Using a mix with less Ultramarine Blue, I did the same again in random places. Then, randomly, I wiped in a few bits of Medium Yellow.
STEP FOUR
I mixed Titanium White with a touch of Yellow Ochre and a speck of Ultramarine Blue and, using a palette knife, I painted in the top of the background escarpment. Here I used strokes of about 60 degrees – letting the background colour show through at random spots.
Then, using a similar mix of paint (but with more Titanium White), I painted in the future wet sand areas with a Number 12 flat brush.
STEP FIVE
Using the same sand mix, with additional Titanium White, I painted in the sand areas – using horizontal strokes, leaning slightly downwards as I got nearer to the water area. I also applied touches of this colour on random parts of the escarpment; again with a Number 12 flat brush.
STEP SIX
Using Turquoise and a bit of the light sand mix, I painted in some of the water areas. Then, using the lighter sand mix, with a touch more Ultramarine Blue, I painted in more of the water areas.
STEP SEVEN
Titanium White and a palette knife were used to dab in the white water and waves. Then, with a Number 12 flat brush, I blended in more of the darker sand mix and light blue water mix where required.
I took the brush and smoothed out the waves in the distance and the middle … so that there was still texture to the waves, but only where needed. Using a round brush, I blended in the Turquoise, the blue water and the wave areas. I actually also used my fingers here.
STEP EIGHT
I took some more of the light sand mix and added some Titanium White and a touch of Medium Yellow – then scratched some of this mix onto the foreground sand, leaving some textured bits. With some of this paint mix on a stiff Number 12 flat brush, I sprayed and flicked it onto the dark, distant background.
This was to soften the background slightly and connect the two areas.
I also put a few random touches of the Ultramarine Blue into this area.
I took a little Turquoise and blended it into the foreground water, to break it up a little.
With some Brilliant Red and Medium Yellow, I painted in the lifesaver flags. A little later, I took some more of these colours and dabbed them on the flags to give a bit of texture. I painted in the reflections and smoothed them with a Number 12 flat brush.
The Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson mix was used to paint in the distant figures and shadows.
The flag shadow was added with a Number 2 liner brush.
I blended some of the sand mix with the shadow, to give some texture.
STEP NINE
I was not entirely happy with the result. After thinking about it, I felt that the background sand hills ‘cut’ the painting too much.
I used a palette knife to go over the background area with a mix of Titanium White, a small amount of Lemon Yellow and a touch of Ultramarine Blue.
FINAL STEP
I was still not happy with the top section of the painting. I decided to cut the top section off completely, making the painting 67 x 60 cm. This would be carried out by Larry – my framer – who would either keep the painting as a stretched canvas, or frame it.