Beach II
Acrylic on Canvas panel
You may look at this painting and think that there isn’t much going on and it seems a little boring. But I look at this painting and I see peace and relaxation. I can imagine myself just beyond the borders of this canvas taking a nap in a hammock under a couple of palm trees. Ahhh…doesn’t that sound nice?
There have been a lot of moments this summer where I would have loved being on a tropical island somewhere. As you know, the first part of the summer was spent getting the house ready to sell so we could move back home. But as time passed, it was just one obstacle after another preventing us from making that leap. So we called off the move and we are going to stay put in Newport News. I was a little sad at first, but I learned a long time ago not to ignore God’s signals and these were impossible to ignore. Life is slowly getting back to normal, David is home and we as happy as three peas in a pod. ok, enough already with the personal stuff….
I’ve been trying my hand at pastels. I’m a little scared of working in pastel, because they are pretty toxic. I wear a mask and open a windows and all that good stuff, so I guess it’s a respectable fear..kinda like fire. Annnnnnnnnnyway, I’m not very good with this medium and my color falls of the paper. I’m just playing so it’s no big whoop, but I don’t see how artists get that fine detail unless they are working on a large-scale. If any of you have any suggestions, I accept all help.. I’ve been using Derwent, Gioconda from Koh-i-noor, and chalk pastels if this is useful.
Gosh, I forgot to mention that the painting above is from a photo and not a tutorial…Yepper…I painted this one all by myself:)
Be Well and Happy!
Carol Ottaway 
It’s beautiful!
Gorgeous pic. You are the second person to say that pastels are toxic….and I am surprised. I have such bad asthma but have never noticed. I rub them in and then go over and over for detail, it is a bit like watercolour, magic happens eventually.
Sorry to hear you move was called off, I do agree that all things happen for a reason though, so perhaps you just don’t know why yet> Hugs from me XX
Thank you Vicki! It sure was good to see you and Mrs. Ottaway:) Thank you too, Chrissy! I think all of the mediums are toxic, but they don’t stop me from playing in them, lol…Pastels scare me because the dust gets airborn so quickly and I draw right in front of a window and it looks like a dust storm…but it could be that I don’t know how to use them either. Thank you for the information, because I was going to throw the picture away..Now, I see that there may be hope:) As for the move, I’ve had a little time to live it, so it’s ok now, but life can sure throw us a curve ball at times:) Big hugs right back at you and take care!
It is a gorgeous pic hun with a real sense of peace. I sense at times you can be a little too technical in your objectiveness of your own work 😉 Ask me how I know, ROFL?
Hahahahaha…You caught me! I believe you are right, Chrissy…We are our own worst critics aren’t we? It’s a hard habit to break and it was one of my New year’s resolutions too, maybe next year:)