A Little Touch of Beach

Melbourne Beach, FL-October, 24x24, oil on board

Here is the finished painting from my post of May 19th, before critique. This painting was about paint quality, or as I interpret that, expressive brush work. I spent the morning unifying the sand. Someone had made the comment to me that it looked like two paintings. That I should cut off the top and make a long skinny beach painting with the figures and a bird painting below. That is what told me I had to unite the top and bottom via the beach. I do think it works better now as a whole.

Adriatic Bicyclist, Italy-October, 24x24, oil on board

I have also worked on the painting from March 16th post. I worked on refining the main figure, and the two little anchor figures that form a triangle with the bicyclist. The girls face did not please me, nor did the whole figure over all; she did not need anything major just a little here and there. The figure on the right was too small relative to the guy on the left in the water, so she is now bigger and the one on the left just needed a touch up. I also added the bike trail in the sand. It is the little things that can get you.

Of these two beach scenes, I thought more people would be drawn to the birds, but so far, more people like the bicyclist. As I study this photo, though on this post, I think I may play some more with the sand in the shadow. I think I can unify the whole shape better, to be more pleasing. I learned alot on doing the sand in the Melbourne Beach painting. You may see the Adriatic again...