Scholastics #4

For this project the goal was to continue working on the scholastic submissions. I decided to go outside of my comfort zone for this piece. I originally had some other ideas, but ended up going with this one. I don't normally work with acrylic paint or do landscape scenes, but I thought it'd be good to venture out.

This is a photo of Kettle Cove in Portland. It doesn't really look like the beach though, it looks like the view from a top of a mountain. I didn't sketch the shapes out first, I just started painting because I knew I could go over any mistakes I made. I started with the sand and the rocks by mixing all the primary colors together with white and black. I used various shades to create some texture. I then added different shades of green by making quick dabs with a paintbrush. I added in the light blue sky and went over with white paint for clouds after the base was dry. This piece is pretty small, I think it would be fun to work bigger with acrylic and be able to be more gestural.

The one thing I don't really like about this piece is the fact that it's symmetrical. I think it would be more interesting if the composition was more intriguing. Overall, I think I've learned that I can use acrylic and I should experiment with it more often.