There are few things on Earth I find more beautiful than sunsets, so for this sketch, I was determined to capture a sunset at Clearwater Beach. I knew it would be a bit of a challenge since the light and the colors would shift relatively quickly as I worked, but it turned out the most difficult part would be finding parking! Once I settled down in a good spot, I got to work right away to make up for the time I lost in my quest for a legal parking spot.
Several of the focal points in my painting, such as the umbrellas over the picnic tables and the food stall, were put away and closed down within 20 minutes of my arrival, and I’m glad I managed to capture them in time because they are my favorite elements in this painting, along with the colors in the sky and ocean. However, there were still many people arriving at the beach after me, so I definitely wasn’t the only one coming to the beach to enjoy the sunset. In fact, there was a group of guys who showed up to record a vlog of some kind. They were somewhere behind me so I wasn’t able to get them into my painting, but I could hear them rehearse their message and re-record every time someone forgot a line or if the lighting was poor.
I’m quite proud of how this one turned out, and the beach was a really nice, relaxing setting for working on a painting. I wish I could’ve stayed longer to start a second one, but soon after I finished this one, I saw there was a thunderstorm rapidly approaching and knew it was time to pack up and hurry back to my car. I imagine I looked quite ridiculous sprinting out of the beach with a collapsible beach chair and my non-waterproof shoulder bag slung over my back and flapping around behind me, but I was determined to not let all of the paintings in my sketchbook get ruined from the rain!
Date: 7/2/18
Time spent: 1.5 hours