Painted in 2009, 20 by 28 inches. This was one of the most difficult landscapes I've painted in years. It's been my habit, since I started painting, to prefer vibrant colors, or at least bold contrast in tonality. This painting has neither. The colors are muted, for the fog that lay on the beach that day and there is similarly little dramatic darks or lights, save the bit of sparkle on the water and rocks. Reigning in my impulses to emphasize contrast and dramatic saturation was really quite a struggle. I'd continually mix a color and, feeling in my gut that it was too washed out and gray, second guess my decisions. In the end, I had to paint basically everything twice because, the first time I'd lay down a color, I couldn't be exactly sure how it would look in relation to the other colors that would sit next to it. And my initial color choices turned out all to be just a little off, too bold or saturated more likely than not. Though it was a chore, I'm glad I painted it and enjoy looking at it. It's got a pleasant serenity to it that I don't often achieve in my more high-keyed paintings.
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