Beach Babes – Commissions
Bucket and spades, sandcastles – these have to form some of the happiest memories for family beach holidays. We have been lucky enough to have experienced a few of these moments ourselves – and it’s always a joy to be asked to paint commissions to capture “the moment” for others.
The sun, sea and sand make the most amazing back-drop to the main characters. The shadows, colours and tone are really important to create the atmosphere.
The white hat, light falling on the arm and the shadow underneath help to create the feeling of intense sunshine and the stance of the subject shows the concentration focussed on the little pebble in hand.
I can paint in most mediums for these type of commissions, mostly I use watercolour but painting this lovely little girl in the beautiful blue swimsuit, heading towards her cousins in the sea, was my first delve into oil painting on canvas. It took ages to achieve the effect I was looking and I was really pleased with the finished piece. The slightly fuzzy effect around the frill of the swimsuit gives me the effect of movement I was looking for.
Observation, as always, is key. The following painting was a commissioned watercolour on paper and the blue of buckets/spades, clothes, bow in hair , hairband (together with the directon of the spades) all help to keep your eyes moving around the subject area. Sometimes a photo is ready to be painted in it’s existing format but a few artistic tweaks here and there can enhance the composition.
Click here for more details on this commissioned piece
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing these artworks. I did have one more to show you but I can’t find it at the moment – it is one of our boys the sea. When I track it down, I’ll upload to this blog. If you would like to enquire about a commission from your favourite photo, please do email to discuss.