Secret beach

OK - this is not really a secret beach, but Monica and I found it by accident.  We were determined to eat our lunch (focaccia and pizza slices) by the beach on this sunny but cold December day.  Our destination was Marina di Alberese.  Upon arriving we found the access road to the regional park closed for some sort of repair so we continued down the coast toward Talamone.  The winter parking situation by the bay was confusing, so we kept heading South on the coast road.  When we were passing the stretch of pine forest that is full of summer campgrounds, we decided to park and take the short walk to the hidden beach.  What a surprise to emerge from the pines and see this view.

Underway - where is everybody?

I tried the usual approach keeping the sky extra  light and the near pine tree shadows extra dark.  The value of the water and the value of the distant blue mountains were tricky.  I remembered that I usually paint water too light so I tried to keep it darker initially.  Later I brushed lighter values here and there over the water, and also some color with reduced chroma.  I knocked down the high chroma of phthalo blue/white with orange. I really enjoy painting coastlines.

Note that I angled the support against the sun so I didn't have to use the wind catching, disaster making umbrella.  Perhaps it is uncomfortable to paint looking across your arm , but it is worth it when there is a breeze and lots of sand ready to stick to your wet painting that blew over when you were watching a gull fly by.  This was a dream to paint so close to the waters edge because there are not big tidal changes in the Mediterranean.

Lots of layers of clothing against the cold, but no sunscreen needed in December

Torre di Talamonaccio, Toscana  o/c  30x40cm