TM8263 From a Chatham Day 30×40 oil on panel

Summer is here, and with it my desire to be, once again, by the ocean. The two paintings in this post are based on a previous visit to Chatham. The light-filled atmospherics entranced me, as did the scruff of native plants growing above the high water line. You might want to join me and pretend you are there too.

TM8263 Detail of center foreground

Technical painting notes: From a Chatham Day follows up on my experiment  with the painting titled Back of the Dune. I started by rolling a thin layer of  burnt sienna on the lower part of the panel, then pressed crumpled plastic into it, dripped and blotted paint thinner, and drew away paint with a pointed plastic scraper. When this layer was dry, I resumed my normal painting process – blocking in sky and water, then beginning to develop the scrub with glazes. When this step was dry, I pulled details from  the scrub with a fine brush and thin paint, worked more glazes into the sky to establish the atmospherics, and began to paint the hint of  sand bars in the distance. Considerable layering of thin opaque paint and cool glazes helped to establish the sandy foreground with its slight shadows.