StudioSense: Warming up the Beach

On a sunny, early morning on the beach at Breezy Point, New York, there is a distinctive warm glow in the sand and grasses that comprise the dunes toward the Atlantic Ocean.

I chose the photo below as my reference for the 12x18 pastel painting "Beach Detour, Breezy Point."

First step was to create an underpainting of pastel diluted with alcohol. I chose orange to warm up the base of the painting. I thought pink would be another interesting, warm hue to add. Purple was also added to help build contrast with the greens of the landscape:

To further enhance the greens, I added green's complement, red.

Next step was to layer in the pastel to build the landscape. Here is an early version, working on getting the values correct as compared to the reference photo:

During the painting process, I check the values of the painting as compared to the reference photo. Here is the reference photo in grayscale:

And here is a version of the painting-in-progress in grayscale. As you can see, the painting needs more darker values, and the lights are a bit too light.

Here is the final version of "Beach Detour, Breezy Point." This painting is available for purchase on Daily Paintworks.

Below is the updated grayscale version: