Beach Houses

At the end of August and first of September 2017, Ron and I spent a week at Blue Mountain Beach, Florida.  I was in my rock painting phase at that time.  I'd gotten discouraged with painting, and so I'd put my oil paints, panels and canvases away, and for about 2 1/2 months I painted rocks.  It was quick, easy, and most importantly, totally stress free.  No great art skill involved - just coloring book type painting with acrylic paints.

However, on our beach trip, even though I was taking a hiatus from serious painting, I took photos of things I wanted to paint.  I did the abstract sunset painting using one of the photos I took during that trip as a reference.

One morning Ron and I were eating breakfast in a restaurant and as I glanced around I saw a painting on the wall that I loved.  It was of three beach houses.  From across the restaurant, I snapped a quick photo of the painting. In that photo (below) you can see the decor that was between me and the painting.  I have no idea who the artist is. I even Googled "three beach house, art, painting" to see if I could find out the artist so I could give him/her credit for the inspiration.  I was shocked at how many paintings there are of THREE beach houses together.  However, I couldn't find this particular painting.  So, I tried.  If I do this again (take a photo of a painting I like so I can try to do a similar painting), I will make sure to look at it closely enough to jot down the artist's name.   I definitely like the impressionistic look of the painting.

Weeks later, back at home, I was looking at my photos and decided to try to paint it - but to make it more mine.  Here (below) is my painting.  I made a few changes - I had a green house instead of the red one, added the decorative windows, larger and more distinct flower pots, a surf board leaning against one railing, and a beach chair in front of one of the houses.  I also didn't add the water.  I like the painting.  It would look good in a beach house, I think.  Maybe I'll give it to our beach house agent, Nancy, next time we go to the beach.  Right now it is framed and hanging on the wall upstairs.  

Looking at it now, I can see how I could make some changes.  All the white in the top photo makes it look bright and sunny.  My painting looks more like an overcast day.  I could lighten it up with some light color in the sky and sand.  However, it is done.  It was a lesson I learned in the Derek Penix workshop, and now I see the same principle here.  Next painting I will remember to use lighter colors to sunny-ify a painting.