Painting A Sunset

This is the 4th painting in the series of my class Imaginary Visit to The Beach.

Here is my sunset.  It's been a sad week because 3 days ago I had to put my dog to sleep.  When I came to this painting I was thinking that the sunset is appropriate because this week was the sunset of Babe's life. The sun went down but it shone brightly in her eyes with so much love when we said goodbye. 

I really wanted to keep the sparkle in the water.  To me this painting is all about light. I wanted to challenge myself to not overpaint and to barely put color in the water and parts of the sky in order to preserve the "lights" in the composition.  I tend to get too dark when I paint so this took discipline.

I think I spent 30 min. on the first part but I was making dinner so I was up and down.          BEFORE

I did use a block out liquid stuff instead of the wax crayon. I'm more familiar with art masking fluid and I take it with me always when I paint outside or inside.

I applied it with a Q-tip.

AFTER

I know that my water is a light value although It was hard to photograph. The original has more color I think. I stayed with the simple pallet. 

I have the darks in my mountains, rocks and boat.

I made my bird very light to push them back.

I wonder about the very top of my sky. Should I make it darker with the Shadow Violet or just leave it alone.  I don't want to loose something pretty by over cluttering the painting.  My sun is about 3/4 up above the mountain so maybe the sky would not be getting dark up at the top yet?

I didn't write on my painting. My mind was thinking about my dear old dog and if I did write on my painting I would have written this:

Psalm 34:18  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

The painting #3 in the class was to paint Fiddler Crabs. They were just to be a quick sketch and painting.  So here are my Fiddler Crabs.

And here are the crabs together.  I didn't spend much time on the sand. We were not suppose to because this was a quick sketch. If we were really visiting the beach and saw these guys we would have to draw and paint fast because they are zippy little guys.  They are just shy.

Tomorrow, Monday we will get a new assignment. I'm proud that I have kept up with all the paintings and at the same time I am getting my sweater knit. Almost done!!!  OH NO, that reminds me. I have a shawl soaking in my bathtub. Gotta go block!  Have a good week and remember, 

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all  your anxiety on him because he cares for you.