Sky Painting or Beach Painting?

When approaching this subject, I found myself having to decide whether I wanted to emphasize the sky or the beach.  I decided on the beach, which included the lighthouse.

That meant, first, making the horizon line high.  The biggest shape is on the beach.  The lighthouse at Hendrick's Head Beach is a locator, but the emphasis is on the beach leading up to the lighthouse.

It was an overcast day, so I used the values in the sky to contrast with the light on the structure.  The local color of the beach was painted next in one big wet-into-wet wash.

The rocks near the center of the page contrasted in color with the blues surrounding them.  The seaweed washed up at the tide line formed a "Z" which leads your eye across the beach and back to the far shoreline.

The textural suggestions were used mostly in the foreground which enabled me to keep the background smoother and more subdued.  There is, however, color change in the tree shape to give it interest.

The dog gives animation to the beach, but also points to the lighthouse.