Anticipation

Anticipation, 16x12, oil on linen

In the heat of the summer we have been experiencing here, it seemed apropos to dive into something to cool me off! I saw this young boy while walking the beach in western Italy. We were on a tour, and the first day of the tour was a 'free' day or you could add on a day trip to St. Lucia with the guide. We opted to go to the beach by train instead. I had hoped we could go to Cinque Terra, but that was going to make for too long a day, so this was next best. There were not many people in the water as the orange flags were out. I watched his intensity of finding "the" wave to catch. Someone recently made the comment that of course this is not a beach in the USA because he is wearing a speedo! For some reason that never crossed my mind that boys here don't wear speedo type swim suits.

Below is the block in for this painting. As is my want, I picked an unfinished start of a portrait to paint over. I thought you might like to see the big shapes and patterns I use to build upon.

Block in over unfinished painting