Intransigent Arrangement - Beach Rocks - Crystal Cove Beach - California Beach - Beach House Art - Art for the Home

"Intransigent Arrangement" | 8" x 10" | Oil on panel

Available at www.KimVanDerHoek.com

©2015 by Kim VanDerHoek

Some days when I head out to paint, the usual pretty beach view doesn't grab my attention. Such was the case the days I painted this group of beach rocks. It was overcast and the long view down the beach seemed to lack it's usual magic. The rocks along the shore however, were colorful and full of interesting shapes.

Since I can always learn more about painting rocks I chose to focus on this group. I learned that there really weren't a lot of big value changes on this particular day but, there were a number of temperature and hue shifts like the warm almost flesh toned rock in the upper center and just to the right of that the cooler gray rock. I also played with edges, softening most of them and keeping a few hard ones to lead the eye into and through the painting. Many of the rocks were slabs with a repeating pattern to them and I tried to keep some of that feeling without getting too many repeating shapes that would result in a boring image.

Another idea I played with was painting my subject in a way that worked both as a representation painting as well as an abstract piece.