New Year's challenge #2

The next new adventure in painting this year was a seascape: Punta Cana Sunrise. It may not sound like anything new, after all it's still oil painting, but nature scenes (landscape or seascape) are very different from still life. Composition-wise, this was fairly easy because it was so naturally beautiful; no decisions needed about what to leave out. But rendering the surface of the water? That was a total learning experience.

Just to ante-up the risk factor, this painting is a gift for a couple who were married on this beach. So I chose to paint the beach at dawn - symbolic of the start of their life together.

Punta Cana Sunrise, 8x16" ©2014 Dorothy Lorenze

Since I'm not so much a pre-dawn morning-person, my surprise was that sunrises are not nearly as colorful as sunsets tend to be. Trust me, I was up before dawn 3 days in a row trying to get the most colorful image.

But what a sunrise may lack in extreme color drama, it makes up for in sheer serenity. So peaceful with just the sound of rolling waves, like a steady pulse. Visually, what captured my attention was the expanse of pristine, wet sand at the water's edge. A beautiful, liquid reflection of emerging sunshine looked like it had been drizzled onto the beach. I hope I captured that.

Naturally, Ultramarine blue played an important role in this painting. In medieval days this pigment was more precious than gold. Robert Genn presents the story of Ultramarine blue in his latest post at The Painter's Keys. Enjoy.

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