This painting brings back good memories of a trip to Sanibel Island in Florida with my brother Ted. I was standing right next to him when I got the photo reference for this painting. Being the master photographer that he is, Ted probably has a few dozen better images than the ones I worked from. I took three photography courses while in art school as an undergrad and graduate art student. The classes were good, but I still say that at least 90% of my photographic knowledge comes from Ted. I also learned a ton from my housemate in grad school, Dan. While my photo classes were good, Ted and Dan have always had the ability to tell me exactly what I needed to know and how to practically apply that information.
In my photos from Sanibel, the beach was covered with tons of Sanderlings, with shell debris around many of them. I wanted to include a sand dollar in the painting because Ted and I found a whopper of one on the beach one morning.
Although this is a fairly straightforward composition, it was a lot of fun to work on. I wanted to hold back on the detail for a change and spritzed in much of the sand with an old toothbrush—a must have tool for every watercolor painter!
Please contact me if you’re interested in buying the original watercolor or a print of this painting. Some of my work is also available for licensing.
Leave a Reply