A Studio Painting & a Plein Air

High Tide in the Evening

Alone at Low Tide

The top two paintings are of Cape Cod on the bay side in Eastham. I absolutely love the bay side of the Cape. In fact, right now I am watching, yet, another gorgeous sunset. The sky has changed with blues, pinks, yellows, and oranges. The sun is an amazing glow of orange with yellow and red. It is a perfectly clear night and we will get to see the sun set all the way into the water's edge! The photos do not do it justice.

High Tide in the Evening

This painting shows the tide in with the boats afloat. I saw this scene when walking back to the house from the beach. Even when I took the photo I didn't realize how much beach grass was in my sight. I wanted to get all of the beach houses in, but, with the beach included. I did like the yellow glow on the grass from the sun setting, though. The land in the distance is Brewster. I am happy with this painting because the colors are clean and fresh. I tried a different color palette than what I usually use, too. I think the painting looks better in real life than on the computer. Sold.

Alone at Low Tide

I just painted Alone at Low Tide in plein air style today. Normally when I travel I only paint plein air style and take photos. On this trip I ended up painting inside from photos. This scene is from the balcony of our house. I just realized, since my toddler is toddling around everywhere, maybe that is why I am staying locked in while I paint! Anyhow, I am looking down on the boat and can see the many rows of long sandbars as the tide goes out. Low tide is my favorite. The tide goes out for at least a mile. It is so quiet and peaceful. Another note about today is that it has been overcast. Like many days on the Cape, you can't tell where the sky and water meet. They are both the same color of grey blue with a hint of lavender. In this painting I did not get the sky as grey as I would have liked. However, after my toddler was done playing with all of my brushes and paint the deck with water, I was ready to call it a day on the painting! I will probably add more detail later. I am happy with the sand and the water. This is actually a good start and study for a future painting in the studio. From this painting, I finally learned the best way to achieve the wet sand and it's relationship to the remaining water from the low tide.

All comments and constructive criticism welcome.

The above are all 11x14 original watercolors by Liana Yarckin.