Lindy Whitton Studio

Living on an island I have access to lots of glorious coast and  Drip Beach is a lovely spot to spend a few hours painting. Several years ago I painted a similar scene of Drip beach and I wanted to revisit it and try a variation.  I paint my favourite  areas many times  because I think the more familiar you are with your subject the more intuitive your painting becomes.

Sketching up

I start by roughing in the main composition lines , moving some of the grasses in the foreground to add a little entry path and taking the horizon line up a little.  I’ve chosen a Sienna Colourfix paper to give me a warm underglow .

Blocking in

Using my Prismacolour hard pastels I block in the main value areas trying to avoid solid blocks of colour . I keep it loose at this stage.

Sky detail

Here in the sky  I lay in vertical strokes of warm yellows and pinks at the top of the hills and then some light blues at the top . I swipe those light blues down over the  warmer colours to start the blending process.

Adding some darker values

The shadows need some work now so I add some deeper blues in the water, some violets to the rocks and start punching in a few deeper colours in the trees. That aqua on the beach shadows looks so wrong but it will be covered up soon! The rocks get some highlights with warm greys and light browns and some light mauves as they turn into the shadowed side.

Blending the sky and working the shadows

Using the side of my finger I gently swipe the sky to blend the colours and cover some of that sienna. I go back in with the same colours and lay a light layer down to bring back the luminosity to the sky. At the same time I strengthen the darks in the near water with purples and dark blues adding some to the tree area as well. Some lighter violets and blues calm down the aqua and the beach shadows start to take shape.

In with the soft pastels

It’s time to move to the softer Unison  and Art Spectrom Super Softs. The water gets more blues and I bring in the warm pinks and ochres to the sunlit areas of the beach . I build up the lighter areas in the trees with olives, yellow-greens and light siennas.  The tree trunnks go in along with some sky holes.

Water’s edge and foreground grasses

I use the side of my finger to blend some light sky blues and mauves at the water’s edge to get that wet look. The rocks are shaped and some seaweed goes in. I go back to the hard pastels and draw in the grass with loose long strokes keeping it darker at the edges. Lastly I use some light blues for the foam with a few white highlights.