After the success of painting some 5x7"s of big sea rocks, I wanted to try sea cliffs. I arrived at Otter Crest Beach, Oregon just in time to enjoy the sunset. In between inspecting some tide pools and skipping some rocks into the waves, I snapped a few photos of the sea cliffs, illuminated by the last rays of the day. I loved the warmth of the cliffs, so for my next painting I turned up the color and painted what I saw:
I stuck to a limited palette on this painting, mixing a standard blue, red, yellow, green, and white. I used green from the tube rather than mixing my own, because I wanted to hone in on the changes between warm and cool for the trees on top of the cliffs. I added in beachcombers at the end of the painting to give the eye something to linger on and demonstrate distance, but I think my favorite part is the most distant cliff face meeting the sea.
Next, I wanted to try to create a more muted version of this scene. I could really feel the temperature drop when I stood in the shadows at sunset, so I wanted to try and capture that feeling in my next painting. I used my watercolor palette to do an underpainting first - I have strong instincts and years of painting under my belt in watercolor, whereas I am a newer student to gouache. I enjoy both immensely, for different reasons. After I laid in the initial composition and colors, I turned up the volume on the light and shadows with gouache layers.
For my final painting (for now!) of my time at Otter Crest, I wanted to combine everything I've learned so far. I cleaned my water and my palette and set up for the final iteration.
I liked the large rocks rising out of the sea, the cliffs reaching out into the waves, and I wanted to add some interest in the foreground. I also thought a limited palette would be best, so I prepared the following colors in gouache: Hansa Yellow Medium, Indian Red, Cobalt Blue, Permanent White. I sketched out my composition using several reference photos I took that day to combine all the elements I enjoyed. Once the sketch was complete, I locked it in with a watercolor wash mentioned in this post. When the paper fully dried, I put on some great music and went to work.
I had such a good time and so much luck painting a series like this! It was strangely freeing to pick one motif and a limited palette, letting the creativity blossom from the parameters rather than facing the looming void of infinite possibilities.