Most of my early paintings were concerned with capturing the appearance of a subject just as it appeared. I consider that my “learning how things work” phase. It was all about copying the scene just as it was, but gradually building an understanding of how light and form combine to produce this planet full of wonders we call home.

Reference Photo: Ruakaka Beach, New Zealand.

Richard Robinson, Passion Beach, acrylic on canvas, 15 x 15" (38 x 38 cm)

Even while painting in that studious fashion, I was always drawn to the more expressive painters who seemed to throw caution to the wind and created their own vision of a scene on the canvas, producing what might be considered a poem about the place rather than a careful description. That to me seemed like a worthy goal.

In this lesson I take students through the process of creating just such a painting, with particular emphasis on color, brushwork and edges.

Student Critiques

Take two

Maureen Kerr

Hey, great work Maureen. Lots of vibrant color, expressive brushwork and a variety of shapes, avoiding pattern-making. Nothing I would change here. Good job.

Passion beach, acrylic on canvas, 13½ x 13½" (35 x 35 cm)

Elena Sokolova

Really nice work, Elena. Totally avoided muddy color, and great variety of texture from thin washes to chunky impasto. Also, good contrast of large and small shape using a variety of brushes. That’s going to look great on the wall.

Paradise Beach Redux

Steven Rowell

Really interesting approach, Steven. Love the power in the brushwork and the intensity of color contrast and value contrast. The spacing and size of your highlights in the foreground is conspicuously similar, hinting at a man-made structure. Adding more variety there will give a more natural feel.

Francis Beach Half Moon Bay CA

Claudia Morgan

Some beautiful work in here, Claudia, especially in the cloud—deliciously painterly and rich with complex color. I’d like to see more of that treatment in the foreground. Just looks like you ran out of steam there.

German Version

Anne-Dore Leisering

Good job Anne-Dore! Nothing I’d change here. The heavily textured canvas is working to soften the edges of your brushwork creating a softer feel overall, and a sensation of the blurred effects of wind through the grasses. Nice!

Passion Beach, acrylic

Evelyn Tuhi-Herewini

Nice to see this different soft-edged scumbling effect, Evelyn. I feel that the grasses could do with more impasto paintwork in the mid values to better match the upper half of the painting. Make sure the bases of your hills are flat as they seem to be angling up towards the right.

Gull heaven... “where the crawdads sing”, acrylic, 12 x 12" (30 x 30 cm)

Marie-France L’Ecuyer

Oooh, that’s beautiful work Marie! You really went to town with texture in this one and pushed it further into abstraction. Great to see. Wouldn’t change a thing.