"Sandcastle Builders" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

sold

Sandcastle building is a big deal at Prince Edward Island, Canada.  I even saw a park ranger doing a demonstration of how to build one at Cavendish Beach.  You need wet sand.  The girl in the painting is about to go get some sea water with her bucket!

Watercolor sketch for "Sandcastle Builders"; I cropped it for the painting and got rid of the beach bag and blue bucket on the right.

The transparent underpainting.

I started putting down opaque paints.

As usual, I developed the figures, along with the umbrella, last.

Girl with a Straw Hat (oil on linen; 12" X 12") sold

sold

A glimpse of a girl in a blue dress with a straw hat on a sand dune in Prince Edward Island, Canada led to this painting.  I have always been attracted to landscape paintings with figure as the main interest.  Now my skills have improved to such a level that I feel confident in trying out my own vision onto canvas.  What do you think of my efforts?

Watercolor sketch for the painting

Transparent underpainting

I often develop a landscape from the faraway things first.

Developing the middle ground and foreground.  Do you get the feeling that I am avoiding the figure?  It's partly that, but it's also because I want to create a believable and livable environment for the figure first.  

"Beach Boy" (oil on linen; 10" x 8") sold

sold

I saw a boy carrying a big yellow bucket filled with water for sandcastle building on Cavendish Beach at Prince Edward Island in Canada.  I took a picture, which turned out so well that I had to paint him!

The transparent underpainting.  Yes, I start a figure painting in the same way as florals and landscapes!

I started laying down some opaque paints.  

Now it's time to work on the figure.