Life’s a Beach!

Hi Friends! What a gorgeous day! It was 88 with a breeze at the lake and I spent the day with friends and their kids. Well, in the sense that the kids played merrily in the water as the moms chit-chatted on the shore;) I love beach days, probably too much because I hate to leave, the only people who have a harder time leaving the beach is my kids. I guess we need to soak up enough sun to get us through the long Maine winter…that is if sun can get through SPF 50 (in case you are wondering, it can.) We all came home a little pink (even with 3 coats of sunscreen) which made me feel guilty but also made me remember slathering up with the SPF 4 dark tanning oil with the lovely coconut fragrance I used to lay out with as a teenager, I can’t imaging doing that now, but there is something about that Hawaiian Tropic coconut fragrance that will always take me back. I think I ought to buy a bottle of it and crack it open in January when I need a boost LOL! I brought my KOI travel watercolor set with me and decided to paint. I chose to be inspired by my surroundings. I painted birch trees, beach roses, clouds and the lake.

I used the water brush that came with the kit, I refilled it 3 times from my water bottle to do these small paintings. I used the lid of the palette as a paper easel and it worked great. There is a finger hole on the bottom of the palette I just noticed today too, great for painting in the field. Next time I will bring 2 kits in case someone wants to paint with me. I offered to share with curious onlookers but they all declined, huh. I’m sure they just didn’t want to use my only set I had. I was able to put a stack of watercolor papers and the KOI palette in a quart freezer bag and put that in my beach bag as easy as pie! I think I will bring it every time! Yesterday I filmed a tutorial for painting a tropical beach (not Maine obviously) and I thought since I am feeling beachy I’d share it with you today!

It is fun to paint from memory or reference photos, you can’t beat the convenience, but I urge you to take your paints outside and be inspired by your surroundings. Don’t worry about people watching you or how it will turn out (notice, no masterpieces here) just observe and paint. I got to the beach early so I claimed the shady spot (right next to the birch tree I painted in fact) so I could easily watch my kids swimming while painting and that might be an option if you are shy about painting in public. I actually thought the clouds I painted were rubbish until I peeked at the photo I took all all the sketches and I thought, “hey, they look like clouds!” when before at the beach I thought “good grief, what a mess, I guess it’s time to quit!”  Paintings always look better with fresh eyes.

We are supposed to have great weather this week so I know there will be more swimming in our future! When you head out to the water make sure you bring your watercolors, you will be glad you did! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!