Gradation

In my ongoing series of rocks on the beach, the problem of creating a sense of distance was solved by the use of gradation.  On the beach, dark to light values kept the area receding.  The rocks on the right were painted lighter and lighter as they overlapped.  And within each rock, the values gradated from the top down to where the spray from the breaking waves softened them.  In the sky, the values gradated from a light midtone near the breaking surf upward to the distant sky. Not including a horizon line kept the attention on the focal area.

I also used gradation of color.  The warm central rock overlapped the next rock which included some blue, the next three rocks got progressively bluer as well as less textured.

Gradation exercises can be found in most instruction books.  Just remember to employ the technique where it's needed.

Reflections

                                 Bay of Fundy Rocks

In this scene of some famous rocks in New Brunswick, Canada, I wanted to portray the solidity of the rocks and the softness of the beach and the water.  The hard edges of the rocks are contrasted with the soft edges of their reflections on the wet sand. Painting wet-into-wet requires a certain amount of courage. The tendency of the beginner is to come back tentatively with too much more water and not enough pigment.  Load your brush up with lots of moist pigment and make your strokes confidently.

  First, I painted the lightest values of the sand.  When it was completely dry, I re-wet the area and flooded it with pigment.  A quick hit with even darker values created the reflections.  And last, I took a dry brush and reclaimed the horizontal plane of the beach by dragging it through the wet reflections.

I liked the different sizes and shapes of these rocks.  The stark contrast of the values with the sky and the surf emphasized the solidity of the pillars.

Going Small

I usually paint half sheets (15" X  22"), but sometimes to force myself to paint simpler shapes, I pair it down to a quarter sheet or even an eighth of a sheet.  It compels me to paint faster with purer colors.  Here are some results.