Saturday, February 25, 2012

beach house, carpinteria

I did this plein air painting of a beach house on February 13 from the salt marsh in Carpinteria, CA.  There was actually a row of houses between the marsh and the beach dunes, but I left them all out of the painting except the most interestingly shaped one.

The salt marsh is frequented by egrets and other interesting birds.

Beach House
oil on canvas, 6"x8"

5 comments:

Elsbeth McLeod said...

Very nice, Roger. Did you stain your canvas with Sienna before painting?

Roger Morris said...

I stained the canvas with burnt umber, then wiped back the highlight areas and painted in the darks, all in burnt umber. So the whole scene is defined in values of burnt umber before going in with color. It's a technique Mitch Albala taught in his Whidbey Island workshop last year and I think it helps with the management of composition and value.

Anonymous said...

Love this composition and the shape of the beach house. Colors, too.

Roger Morris said...

Thank you. The house did look like it would be fun.

I left a lot of the burnt umber showing but it works pretty well for tree trunks and the house.

Elsbeth McLeod said...

I once had a painter friend in Seattle who was hugely collected, and he also did the underpainting, but with Sienna, that's why I asked. A wonderful technique! I especially like the way the umber shows through.