Crooked Island Sound

As the name implies, I painted this piece on Crooked Island Sound, which is in the panhandle of Florida. There's a little dirt road that leads to this beautiful secluded beach that's mostly free from visitors--largely due to the fact that it's owned by a military base and most people don't know it's okay for civilians to visit. I landed on the spot pictured below, mainly because I liked the suggested path that leads to the beach.

I got started by employing a technique called scrumbling to paint in the shadow side of the dunes which would serve as my layout of the scene.

I often use old worn out sable brushes like the one you see here to help suggest grass and sea oats without rendering each individual blade--which would appear too stiff and overworked otherwise.

The sun was extremely bright as it bounced up from the white sands we are so famous for in this area. As a result, my eyes began to strain pretty quickly, making it hard to read colors with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Knowing this problem before hand, I remained focused on getting the important elements down in a timely fashion. I returned to my studio later where, working with what I had captured and fresh memories, I made the final adjustments that rendered the painting complete.

Here is the finished painting. You might notice that I've made some slight changes to the view I had before me. I lowered the distant dune and raised the horizon a little to better show the water. This is one of the great advantages of working on location--I can view my subject from different vantage points and tie the whole experience into one convincing scene. Hope you enjoy!

"Crooked Island Sound" 6" x 8" original oil on linen. Click here for purchase info.