The Beach, Mud Pies and Pears

These are some pictures I took yesterday when my husband and I were at the beach. Since there were quite a few fishermen trying their luck, there were also a number of shore birds hoping to tag onto someone's rejects, or maybe sneak some bait. These egrets are so beautiful and white that I always am amazed they look so clean. Frequently we see them up to their knees (I guess they have knees) in swampy-looking water, still looking white! Anyway, I love them, and watching them is fun.

Today, I have been making mud while painting, and that hasn't been so fun. I struggled to finally get something decent, and I still think I have some work to do on this one. It was another beautiful day outside, and I think my mind and body wanted to be out there. Sometimes I think I should just listen, because you can't force painting to turn out right if you are tired or just not in the mood. I should have gone out for awhile and then done some ironing or something.

This painting I am calling Pears and Squares. Its size is 9 1/2 x 15 inches, and it is, like the previous one (Refreshments) watercolor in the first layer with the remainder of layers painted in acrylic.

I don't think the pears are well-defined enough yet, so that means I will need to go back in and solve that problem in another session. You could say that painting a picture is a little like doing a puzzle, it has to be solved. Since I was struggling with my mud pies, I ran out of time to solve this puzzle today.

It was so late when I stopped painting that the flash on the camera came on when I took the photo, so I would need to take a better photo anyway, one without the glare even if I didn't need to do something else to the painting.

Another painting I have been re-working is the Eye of the Ocean, and now it doesn't look anything like it did when I talked about it on the blog a week or so ago. When it gets done, I may bring it back as a topic again. Would you like to see what it becomes?

In the meantime, I need to go to the beach more often. It is so incredible out there!