The Tide is Out

      I have painted at Leo Carillo Beach once before. It was after the spring rains when it was high tide and a very hot, sunny day. This week, the conditions were the opposite from my last visit. It was low tide, foggy, cool, and there was no water in the creek which feeds into the ocean right next to the parking lot. To add insult to injury, the sun was out on the other side of PCH, not a hundred yards away, but the beach was socked in with fog.

      One of the challenges of painting outside is dealing with less than perfect weather conditions. I decided to accept the challenge and set up down by the water. The low tide had stranded a bunch of kelp on the sand and I liked the orange gold color of it against the sand and ocean. Since there were no shadows, I concentrated on the colors of the waves and the reflections of the rocks. I have several more seascapes on my website at SharonWeaver.com

      Driving home I stopped in the mountains to look back toward the ocean. The view was lovely with the sun shining on the wild flowers and the ocean in the foggy distance. I plan to come back to that lookout and paint the scene with the sun sparkling off the ocean.