A recent article on Joaquin Sorolla's work in the Artist's Magazine inspired me to explore the creation of some summer scenes based on photos from last summer at the local Davis Bay beach. I am thrilled that I'll be in San Diego in July, and plan to catch the retrospective of Sorolla's work there at that time--a rare opportunity to see his work collected in one place outside Madrid, Spain! At the same time, I've been attempting working on a larger scale in acrylics. I purchased a Sta-Wet palette (essentially a tray with a flat sponge, a tough paper palette, and a tight-fitting lid) that enables me to mix the colours I need for a large work and keep them workable over days rather than hours. I used a local paint brand, Kroma paints of Granville Island, for this work and highly recommend them. They are a bit softer in consistency than Golden or Liquitex heavy-body, but the pigmentation is stellar. I had fun with the iridescent gold in the acrylics below--adds a subtle but lovely summer glow!
I enjoyed both working large (though my shoulder is aching from the whole body brushstrokes!) and the beach scenes--I can see doing more in this series!
