Pallets behind Atlantic Spice Co in Truro, MA.
I only had time to get a very rough outline drawn, and didn't take a photo, so most of this is from memory. I had done this same subject last year, so I had some previous knowledge to fall back on.
I liked the way the wall was stalwartly stemming the tide of foliage bursting over the top.
2021
First is from yesterday morning; the water was relatively calm and the sun was out. By yesterday evening, it had clouded over, the wind was up, and the water was choppier. This morning it was full on rain and fog, and the waves were much bigger and more organized into long breakers.
Ink wash and white ink on toned paper in sketchbook 4" x 6"
I did this in two short sessions after researching the local tides charts so as to maximize time painting at low tide. At this point I have the main shapes blocked in and some indication of the lights and darks. We go home tomorrow, so any further progress will have to be from memory or photo ref.
Watercolor study of surf and spume. The main factors here are the waves and ripples reflecting the sky from different angles, the sandy bottom refracted up through the water, and the foamy spume on the surface. It's easy to trance out gazing at the ever-changing patterns.
A pen and ink sketch of the other side of the breakwater. Definitely some proportion errors going on. The tide was going out, IIRC, - either way, it has bedeviling effect on my judgment of shapes and relative sizes as the baseline keeps changing.
Fragmentary pen and ink study of breakwater. I want to do more straight up pen and ink on white paper - a spartan discipline with no color or even gray scale, but very versatile as evidenced by the great 19th C illustrators. Not sure if I want to finish this, either from life or photo ref, or leave it.
I went back the next day and continued work on the pen and ink drawing of the breakwater. I don't know if it improved the image but it was good exercise in rendering shapes, values, and textures.
Another version of the breakwater, this time in overcast morning light. This is a tricky subject, because the tide is alway either coming in or going out, at a rate right on the edge of perceptibility, like the minute hand of a clock. Not only do parts of the structure disappear as the tide comes in, but the water's edge, which ordinarily would be a useful reference point, is always changing as well. The only constant is the horizon.
