ROCKS AND WAVE STUDY

Time surely flies! I can't believe that it's been so long since I last blogged. Not that I haven't been busy because I have but unfortunately don't have much to show for it. The main reason is that most of the larger works that I have been working on are in that stage where things are coming along okay but rather slowly - I should have more to show soon. In the meantime, I give you this small study done a week of so ago as preparation for a larger painting. To get the reference for this painting, I sat by the beach for some time looking at the in-coming tide and watching how the waves foamed around the rocks and pebbles. Studies were first done in watercolor in my sketchbooks then I carefully chose this exact moment shown in this study. I wanted movement of the tide but showing the rocks as an anchor point in the composition. All the action takes place in the upper part of the painting but you can feel that the sea will soon cover the foreground sand. I love the way that the foam is beginning to cover the rocks and also the lines of smaller foam bubbles in the foreground. The rocks and foam are subtly reflected in the wet sand. My larger version of the painting is coming along fine but I have had to put it aside for the time being while I finish off work for the Best of the Chesapeake exhibition coming up next month at McBride Gallery in Annapolis, MD - more details of this show later. The study (on linen) is 5" X 7".