Autumn at Nauset, a perfect day for enjoying nature’s subtleties with a drizzly sky and empty beach. The fun of this kind of day is in the appreciation of color. At first glance it seems gray, but closer inspection shows the range of greens, reds, and hints of violet that are actually there. Enjoy!

 

Technical painting notes: When painting a gray day, color mixing is especially dependent on the use of complementary colors (colors that are opposite on the color wheel).  My palette consisted of titanium white, transparent gold ochre, transparent oxide red, burnt umber, thalo green, black, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, and dioxazine violet. The green-toned water relied on a mixture of (scant) thalo green and red iron oxide, glazed later with touches of ultramarine and cerulean. To set off the gray green water, I used a base of burnt umber and red oxide for the sand, with touches of violet and transparent gold in mixtures as a glaze. A bit of ultramarine and burnt umber glazed over the sand as it approached the water’s edge implied the darker, damp tone. The sky grays include a mixture of red iron oxide and ultramarine, with glazes of violet and ultramarine. The foam was painted with a new nylon filbert brush, then the strokes were lightly “dragged over” using a watercolor mop brush and medium (Liquin regular). A semi-transparent warm whitish glaze was used in the sky to lighten the values near the top.