Special Sunsets - Summer & Autumn - & Tips

The Sun & The Beach.

It’s interesting to start painting a beach-scape later in the day, when people are leaving for dinner, or later than that.
From Spring to Autumn, we experienced the twinklings on the ocean from the lowering sun, the sunset itself and beyond that, a great time to paint, at dusk. The most special sunset ‘ever’ was the eclipse in August.

The most impressive, the eclipse sunset.
In the photo here, the sun was almost under and the eclipse was long gone, the light seemed to stay longer than ever before, smart people had left earlier, the masses gone, smart because there were traffic-jams everywhere in the night! Everybody wanted to see it at the beach! Fun, we didn't expect (nor will we ever see) this huge crowd size at that time in the day!!
The painting shows that crowd-size!

Did you feel looked at on such a crowded beach?

Because I've painted so many times at the beach, and because the haste of a sunset is so familiar to me now, I wasn't extra stressed in painting this eclipse. See how repetition is also strengthening the person...and not only the 'ability to paint'. 
Didn't do the glasses, I do look at an evening sun. I did use a cd-disc to see through it, viewing that 'part taken out' of the sun. The masses were occupied. And, the atmosphere was joyous. Children came looking, which is fine. Happy to have 'fixated' this moment in time.

I have some Sunset-tips added below!

The video (top) shows a swift compilation of a session where I painted the setting sun over dunes on a slightly larger size. 

Here I wrote about some takeaways that were on top of my mind when I painted the sun. 
The biggest benefit to 'painting the sun' is that you are in complete focus to such natural beauty. That, even when it's very difficult, you'll feel alive more. Perhaps it's also about being near a beach/ocean, then again, I've had the same feelings when I painted a rising sun from a near meadow... OK, here 2 tips,

SUNSET TIPS

TIP / BRING GOOD TUBES
We painted some sunsets just before we went to Ireland, and my paints had emptied out. I wanted to paint a sunset, but I didn't have a plain yellow, and no dark cadmium yellow, 'boy' that was difficult! 

So you see how IT CAN BE IMPORTANT to at least have some good tubes fitting the subject.

So, the tip is: when you paint the sunset, make sure you have a few directions in yellow, 

In my box you'll find:
- Plain yellow or Lemon yellow
- A dark cadmium yellow
And, an orange is needed. Hard to create a good strong orange from scratch!
- A yellow orange (or cadmium orange) 
- A scarlet orange (or bright (orange) red)
Of course, you'll also need the pink side, Quinacridone is a favourite.

Blues, greens, browns, these are less important to have 'the right one' when you paint sunsets. There can be a sliver of blue there, and browns you can create yourself from combining almost everything in your paint box.

TIP / ABOUT HIERARCHY

Then, see this photo here, and look at the sky in the painting...

The light of the sky, and the light from the sun itself CANNOT get the same value in the painting.

And that's difficult! We have to keep reminding ourselves that we're translating 'light' into pigment. We're creating a value-hierarchy to place parts into a comparison range, from darks to light, from shadows to the light-source. Obviously, a sky 'breathes' that light also, but, if you paint your sun in the same color -as the sky above it-, it has a harder time to 'shine' and be the light-ladder-hero...

The sun sits on top of that ladder, also when it's a red ball,

Our eyes often make everything way lighter, sometimes a (phone) camera does the same. But, (tip) to create a sun that is the brightest part in the painting, sometimes there will be no other way than to darken up all other parts. A great experiment that can last a lifetime! Balancing that value-range!
1000 Ways to Rome...

And that's what makes 'painting' so magical, so exciting. 

And that's why it can never be a one-done thing. You NEED tests, trials, experiments. You need to take 1000 approaches. I do!

 I've added most of these new sunsets to my shop,

🌊 Grey Seascapes, Bigger sizes, Sunsets/Dunes (454-468) are in the shop here
🍀 Find the 'Irish' paintings (438-453) in my paintings shop here
🐄 Find new Cow paintings added (411-417) in my paintings shop here
🌞 Find the 'Summer Seascapes' (437-402) in my paintings shop here