One Step Beyond

Having had the holiday, done the beach sketch it's time to take things one step beyond the pages of my sketchbook. Starting a wee seascape about 30cm x 40cm just to edge myself back into my pastels. 

Here's a sneak peek at the beginnings on the easel, in keeping with my beach photos, the aim is that pale sand and a lighter mood than I previously used in my waves crashing seascapes. 

Portraying sand is tricky because with pastels the pales are very often yellow based and the browns reddish, not at all what I'm aiming for. Always start off with your horizon then set your pales and darks, if you start with mid-values it is very tricky to darken down and pale up in pastels, it ends up a values muddy mess. Hoping to keep this all light and airy so my darkest values aren’t (hopefully) going to be too dark. This should feel light a gentle stroll along the beach on a summer's morning. 

Looking to focus on the area between the sand and that frill of the wave on the right (I'm sure there is a name for the shallows between beach and sea but my brain fog won’t let me grasp it!) or perhaps I've had too much Frankincense, just too chilled out to think. Speaking of which, if you’ve never seen Frankincense in the ''flesh'', this is it!  Have to admit it looks like a bizarre collection of things found while beachcombing, doesn't it!