Tuesday, August 22, 2017

COSTA RICA, PART 2



Travelling as we did from one side of Costa Rica to the other gave us the opportunity to see many different aspects of the country. These large huts were half-hidden by the foliage and the jungle seemed to be slowly reclaiming the place. This is a smaller 5"x 7" study as I plan on doing larger paintings of most of the images shown here.




This one is a slightly larger painting of a study I did earlier but this time using a square format and aiming for the same bright and sunny effect. I think I pulled it off although for the larger one I plan on doing later, I'll be reverting back to a regular landscape format. I used an 8" x 8" board upon which I had glued a piece of canvas (using a neutral ph glue). I then then primed with two coats of acrylic gesso - sanding between coats. This results in a surface that I find I am liking more and more as time goes by so have made up a whole batch of different-sized canvas-boards on which to work.




I was lucky to be at the beach with the sun setting over the water for this one. Again, a small study (7" x 5") but hopefully to be painted much larger when I get the chance. I could have worked there for ages as it was a spectacular sunset but I focused on a smaller area towards the end of the beach where two small headlands jutted out into the sea. Managed to gather a lot of photographic reference also so have plenty of ideas to get on with.





The final painting in this part is again one of rock pools which has always been a favorite subject of mine and brings back many happy memories exploring the North Cornwall coast when I was much younger. Unlike the studies shown above, this one is painted directly on a gessoed board - size is 8" x 8".