Early Evening Surf

This is a plein air painting done in Pt Lobos State Reserve between Camel By The Sea and Big Sur at about 5 PM on a beautiful January evening.  The sun was just about ready to go below the oceans edge so there wasn’t a great deal of reflections on the rocky coast line.

I have to tell you that when I paint like this on the coast with the sun in front of me I start working long before sundown. Ounce the sun is down the beauty of the scene quickly disappears.  So I sketch the scene with a thin brush in a rather thin dark color and then concentrate on values, color, and building the painting to a successful conclusion before the light disappears!

This painting is framed in a gallery quality Expresso colored wood plein air frame.