One of my favorite subjects is a puffy cloud reflected in a wet beach with a sprinkling of sunlight. Easy to paint and a great result every time (except when it isn’t). There’s always a built-in color harmony here because the sky is reflected in the water, and it’s kind of like painting an abstract painting since it’s mainly just big areas of color with a few sprinkles of detail that tell you what’s going on.

Richard Robinson, Beach Reflections, acrylic on canvas, 14 x 14" (35 x 35 cm)

 

Ruakaka Beach, New Zealand.

 

Student critiques

Beach reflections, acrylic with oil glazing on canvas, 15 x 15” (39 x 39 cm)

Elena Sokolova

Wow, you’re always the first to post up your painting Elena! It never fails to impress. Great work, again. Strong color and an interesting variety of brushwork combining both impasto and glazing. My only suggestion would be to have another go at the birds, taking a little more time with them. You’ll have them eating out of your hand. Mine were a little big and yours a little bigger again. Get those tiny brushes out!

Beach, cloud and birds. My first acrylic painting. Quite unnerving at times.

Ian States

Nicely done, Ian. You’ve got a little more light/dark contrast than mine and that generally means a more dynamic looking image but usually pays with a little less color in the darks. You’ve certainly captured the power of the large cloud shadow over the land—looks great! Perhaps throwing the very distant end of the white sand beach into shadow would help the beach settle into that shadow area as well. I like the extra layering you did of the distant lands upon the horizon. Nice touch. You’ve painted this on a smaller canvas and what looks like over another painting (because we can see the texture underneath), so there is a lot of broken texture in the foreground, which I think is a shame because it doesn’t really suit the smoothness of reflections in wet sand. The same can be said for the cloud. If you like that look though, that’s all good. One aspect of drawing I would like you to look at is the subtle angle of the waves and how they should never come to a horizontal line in this situation, but always be sloping and curving gently and carefully towards the horizon. Solid work, Ian. Keep it up!

Beach Reflections, acrylic on canvas, 15¾ x 15¾" (40 x 40 cm)

Adana Virna

Beautifully done, Adana! You have a fresh painterly style going there. Strong vibrant color, kept so by not overworking it, and a nice contrast between the blue and orange complements. The only thing I might suggest is to pay attention to the very slightly curved brushwork in the bottom third of my painting, which lends a certain expansiveness to the scene. Something to consider anyway. Great job.

Beach Reflections in Oils

Geoffrey Geeson

Hey Geoffrey, from a distance this one looks great—powerful contrasts, good shapes, strong color and exciting brushwork. Beautiful! Looking closer I can see you had some serious fun with your palette knife in the clouds. It’s interesting how that extra texture pulls the clouds forwards in the picture plane and really draws the eye. Part of me wants to see the whole painting in this same impasto treatment. It must have been difficult to put that knife down! Some of the color in the bottom third has gone overly gray and could do with a lick of blue in it to better reflect the sky. You’re going to need a smaller fine brush for doing seagulls too. Paint on!

Beach Reflections Oils, 14 x 14" (35 x 35 cm)

Nancy Newton

Hey Nancy, that’s some beautiful brushwork in there. Especially in the clouds. Gorgeous! I’d just like to see the drawing on this one a little better. Take a look at leveling your horizon, trimming back the golden sand to a long single triangle and have another go at the color in the water in that yellowish band across the middle; there’s no reason for it to be yellow there. 

Beach Reflections, oil over acrylic base coat, 16 x 16" (40 x 40 cm)

Louise Villegas

Louise, those clouds are beautiful! Very painterly and soft with loads of interesting details and a nice progression from cool shadows to warm lights. The warm sand triangle is a little thick, which has created a bit of an awkward angle with the waterline, but it can be easily fixed. Similarly, beware of tilting horizons. Perhaps that’s the photo though.