Bliss at the beach

Last Thursday we went to Bodega Bay to escape the heat.....the weather was foggy and overcast and a beautiful change from the brutal 100+ degree weather in Sacramento. Saw some amazing tide pools with huge starfish attached to the gigantic rocks. Here's a painting I did yesterday that was inspired from the welcome albeit brief respite from sunny (and hot!) Sacramento. The painting is acrylic and charcoal on 300 lb Arches paper -- size is 7.5" x 15.25" As most of you know it's really difficult for me to paint or make anything with black, white and shades of gray but I really enjoyed this challenge and was happy with the results. Of course I had to throw a little bit of color into the mix -- hence a light wash of yellow ochre in the sky where the sun kept threatening to pop out.