This is the beginning of my #40 of San Diego 100 paintings.  Beach scenes can be challenging especially in the design stage.  Whether we end up with a strong or weak painting depends on how to place all elements effectively against the vast sky and the open water.

So I will just forget about "all the elements" for a minute and pretend not to see them.  From the top of the paper, I pull the weak grayish wash down till I reach the quarter of the paper. There I leave a few thin lines of white of the paper to indicate the waves.  I even leave bigger, triangular shapes of white paper for the breaking waves.  As I move down, I gradually change colors from gray to greenish blue to purple and to warm brown.


   When the first wash is dry, I start putting in people, making sure they are the right size proportionately.



   Imperial Beach is never complete without its great-looking wooden pier.  But painting in lots of thin straight lines on watercolor paper can be intimidating because they are not erasable.  I wish I had a secret as to how to do it easily...  Find the rhythm, do it with confidence, and it can be quite fun!


San Diego 100 (#40) - Imperial Beach

A larger image of this painting is available on request.

Media: original watercolor
Image Size: 8.25 x 11.5 in. (on 9 x 12 in. paper)
Purchase: Sold (All proceeds were donated to Kimberlee's Bikes for Kids (KBK))