Wednesday, August 27, 2014

'Sand Painting' 9x12 oil on birch with plenty of authentic beach sand in the paint.


Back to Long Beach, Long Island. This is the jetty directly to the East of Ohio Street and the first time I strayed from my usual rocks. It attracted me because the ocean had piled the sand so high on one side while it was deeply carved on the west. Later in the week a hurricane was out at sea, causing the surf at high tide to push this particular sand right over the rocks, making it more even on each side. The pleasures of plein air: documenting change.

Setting up, preparing my palette and unpacking my supplies proved to be the source of the title, a fresh palette of paint (and probably more paint than I usually use as I was planning two) acts like a frisbee when buffeted by the wind. Not bungeed down yet, the wood palette landed fairly sideways in the sand. Sounds safe? No. Enough sand had been carried in the air and kicked up that the paints were fairly tan. I used it anyway after scraping some of the worst lumps and gained a painting with an awful lot of texture. My main brush took a beating as well, pushing around the paint wore out a fair number of precious hairs, leaving me with a ferrule full and a brush partly worn.

Sand Painting, 9x12 oil on birch board

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