Let's take a peek underneath. Shapes rule, strong contrast and movement directs the eyes.

Beach Wave X

I so love to paint these types of paintings. It is such a dance with the universe. It takes a while to work out the shapes that direct your eyes into the painting and keep you wandering around. I like the feeling of floating on top of the water and seeing through to the sandy bottom. Shallow water provides such an opportunity for gentle details that offer depth in the shadows of the foam. I can enhance the movement with just the right little swirly foam running parallel to the large foam shape. The shapes pull you into the wave for your enjoyment in discovering its features. For me, this is just pure fun!

Beach Wave VI

Beach Wave IV

These two paintings are sold works that I wanted to include in the conversation of shapes and movement. As much as they are sister paintings, they each have their own shapes and directions, color combinations, motion, and stillness. It can accomplish slow motion, too. As the top painting has movement, drawing the foam toward the wave in a pulling motion, these two have a feeling of being suspended and waiting to be pushed and moved into yet other shapes!

I absolutely loved the curl of the wave and the illumination of light. The gentle use of purples and blues contrasted with yellows, browns, and greens in the dark shadow of the curling water. Acrylic paint is great for layering and glazing to build the right color and value. I can't tell you how many times I changed the shapes of the foam on the water until I got what felt right. Creating negative shapes and exchanging sand for sea foam and vice versa. It just added richness to the painting. I was never worried that I would not find the right combinations of shapes and directions. It all just comes together. That's part of the magic!

To show the wave is coming in from deeper water, it is darkest right in front of the curling wave. The depth change is apparent, going from dark to light sand with shadows of sea foam in the shallows. The light sea foam and sandy bottom direct the eye to that contrast. From there, you can peek under the water and play among the shadows.

For clarification, the rectangle painting, Beach Wave X, at the top of the blog is still available for purchase. The bottom two square paintings, Beach Wave VI and IV were previously sold. Available as giclee prints only.

I hope you enjoy my discussions about different paintings. Please feel free to leave a comment, ask questions, or leave a suggestion for future posts. I'd love to hear from you all. Until next time, stay healthy, safe, and happy.