Tag Archives: beach

Family at the Beach

Posted on June 9, 2019 | Comments Off

Intimate Spaces Series – Family at the Beach, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30, Kit Miracle

This is the twelfth painting in the Intimate Spaces Series. Family Day at the Beach reminds me of the many beach scenes by Sargent, Sorolla, and even Mary Cassatt. There is nothing really extraordinary about the scene and that is what I like about it.

If you look closely at the mother in the painting (click to zoom in), you will notice that she is very pregnant. The son will soon have a sibling. Dad is painted with a slight paunch. Not all scenery at the beach is magazine perfect. This is real life.

Family at the Beach, detail. Notice how abstract the sand is painted. Layer upon layer.

Again, another detail of the sand in the foreground. This is painted very abstractly. There are many layers but the whole point is that the focus should be on the family and not necessarily anything else in the painting.

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Posted in art, contemporary impressionism

Tagged acrylic, beach, contemporary impressionist, kit miracle

Settling In

Posted on June 2, 2019 | 1 comment

Intimate Spaces Series – Settling In, acrylic on canvas, 28 x 38, Kit Miracle

This painting is number seven in the Intimate Spaces Series. It is titled Settling In which is where the beach-goers begin to stake out their territories. In this case, the woman in red is being helped by the beach attendant.

Intimate Spaces Series – Settling In detail 1, Kit Miracle

I was attracted to the complexity of the chairs and umbrellas, to the figures and the contrast with the brilliant blue sky.

Intimate Space Series – Settling In, detail 2, Kit Miracle This detail shows the abstract brush strokes I have used for the sand.

As you can see in the detail photo, I have painted the wet sand in a very abstract manner. It is important to not be concerned about trying to depict every little detail, but to let the viewer’s eyes fill in the details. The entire painting is a study in contrasts, between details and abstracts, light and dark, near and far.

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Posted in art, contemporary impressionism

Tagged abstract, acrylic, beach, contemporary impressionist, kit miracle, travel

More series, Intimate Spaces – Beach Series

Posted on May 26, 2019 | Comments Off

Go! Number 11 in the Intimate Spaces – Beach Series. Acrylic on canvas, 16 x 16. Kit Miracle

I completed the twelfth painting in my Intimate Spaces series this week. My thoughts behind painting this series of beach paintings is that when people go to the beach, they carve out their little spaces, arrange their belongings, and then seem to act as if they are invisible within their own little territories. They’re not.

Maybe I’m just a voyeur, or just have an artist’s eye for observing, but I have always been drawn to people-watching. The beach, of course, is a great place to be an observer of the human animal, but there are many other places to do that, too. More thoughts for future series.

Many artists have created series of paintings around themes in the past century and a half. Most notably are Monet and his haystack paintings or Van Gogh and his sunflowers. Some artists work the same theme for their entire lives like still life painter Gorgio Morandi who essentially painted the same objects over and over.

And what is the point of painting the same thing over and over? you might ask. For some artists, like Monet, it’s to study the object or scene in different lighting conditions. For instance, he would often have several canvases at different points of completion, and then work on them when the same lighting and conditions presented themselves. Most notably, his Rouen Cathedral series, but he was known for this throughout his life.

For me, it is the challenge to drill down into the subject. I like to paint the human figure in situ, or it’s natural, unposed state. How do people interact when they think no one is watching them? With each other, or with their surroundings?

My series of beach paintings, I have sixteen planned in all, does exactly that. Children, families, individuals, seagulls, the landscape – all of the interactions within a limited scope of place. If it were a different beach or place, there would be different subjects and activities.

But I am surely getting tired of painting sand and sea and sky. Not doing the beach for the next series, for sure but I already have ideas rolling around. First, however, will be a little plein air painting for a change of pace.

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Posted in art, contemporary impressionism

Tagged acrylic, art, beach, contemporary impressionist, kit miracle, Monet, Morandi, painting a series, series painting, van gogh

A Day at the Beach – Painting a Series

Posted on April 10, 2019 | Comments Off

A Day at the Beach, final. 24 x 36, acrylic on canvas, Kit Miracle

As a working artist for over three decades, I find keeping interested in painting involves challenging myself. Sometimes this means new subject matter or new materials. Even a new location helps. The challenges keep me inspired and allow the mental juices to flow.

My latest challenge is painting a series of paintings revolving around a day at the beach. I love slice of life subjects, catching people going about their lives without thought of an audience. One thing I’ve noticed is that when people are at the beach, they stake out their territories, bringing the chairs and the umbrellas, the coolers and the toys. Beach goers seem to operate under the illusion that no one can see them in their little sand kingdoms.

But the artist’s eye can.

The planned series includes vignettes of life at the beach. Families, couples, kids playing, people just enjoying the sunshine…or totally ignoring their surroundings with their noses in books or napping. My inspiration for these seaside paintings are John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla, and Burt Silverman. It took a lot of effort to make their seaside paintings seem so, well, effortless. Unstaged even though they often were. And that is the aim of this current series that I’m working on.

The painting above depicts the settling in and establishing of territory by a family. Mom gets the lounge chairs ready while son is waiting patiently for her attention. The composition with overlapping umbrellas and tents is like a little city, each with its own slice of life.

The beach walkers and people playing in the surf add distance and perspective to the scene. I also chose to flatten the color of the sky (no clouds) and the foreground. This allows the emphasis to be placed on the middle plane where all the action is.

A Day at the Beach is number six in the series. I have sixteen planned but we’ll see. A series is an exploration of an idea and I’ll keep at it until I don’t have anything else to say about the subject.

If you’d like to see how this painting was created, click on this link or go under the tab Artworks and click on A Day at the Beach for step-by-step photos.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Posted in opinion, painting instruction, Uncategorized

Tagged acrylic, art, beach, beach scene, contemporary impressionist, kit miracle, painting a series, painting instruction, series, toned canvas

Wings, a beach scene

Posted on January 13, 2019 | 3 comments

Wings – final, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24. Kit Miracle

I was looking through some old photographs for subjects to paint which I haven’t visited for awhile and came across the inspiration for this painting. Sometimes the subject doesn’t grab me for several years until I revisit the pictures but this photo was only from last summer. I love the beach scenes by Sargent, Sorolla and Zorn, particularly the ones involving children.

For this painting, I decided to work slowly and do plenty of preliminary work. My last post included several sketches, some Notan studies, and one painting study of the central figure. The latter is actually larger than the figure in the final painting. See the sketch for this painting.

The title comes from the focus on the little girl with her water wings and the flapping wings of the seagulls. Sargent did a wonderful painting of Neapolitan Children at the beach and one of them is wearing a contraption of bladders for floating, similar to today’s water wings.

To learn more about this painting, check out my step-by-step page here.

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Posted in art, contemporary impressionism, painting instruction, Uncategorized

Tagged acrylic, art, beach, beach scene, children at the beach, contemporary impressionist, kit miracle, painting instruction, Sargent, seaside, toned canvas

Postcards from Texas

Posted on June 20, 2018 | Comments Off

South Padre Island, panorama from the balcony, watercolor, pen and ink, Kit Miracle

We recently drove to Texas to pick up our granddaughter and take her to the beach. It was wonderful being able to introduce an eight year old to the ocean for the first time. We went down to South Padre Island which my husband and I first visited forty years ago. Needless to say, it has changed quite a bit. When we initially visited, it had one Holiday Inn, a couple of mom and pop hotels, a few ramshackle houses and a few restaurants. Of course, most people go there for the ocean and the beautiful beaches.

South Padre Island, postcard #1, watercolor, pen and ink, Kit Miracle

Everything has changed except the beaches. Still beautiful. Gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. But the Gulf side is now lined with high rises and there are now many, many eateries and other things to do. We took an Eco and Dolphin watch tour, visited the Sea Turtle Sanctuary, and went to the light house.

South Padre Island, postcard #2, watercolor, pen and ink, Kit Miracle

I usually take some painting materials on my trips but this time I restricted myself to just watercolors. One thing I love to do is paint postcards and mail them to friends. I’m not sure where I came up with this idea but I think it was when I read about a guy who financed his trip to Europe by preselling postcards.

South Padre Island, postcard #3, watercolor, pen and ink, Kit Miracle

Amazingly, they come through the mail just fine. Yes, mailing original art. With a stamp. I make the cards from heavy watercolor stock of at least 140 lb.