Walking on the Beach

Oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches -- $900 (framed)

I saw these seagulls on the beach in Vashon, WA. I could see they were really enjoying hanging out together. I spent a quite some time watching them, and shot this photo and more. I've painted this composition in 6x6 a while ago, but I really wanted to see how it would look on a bigger and rectangular canvas. There were layers of small waves behind them. But I decided to abstract the patterns, rather than copying the details. Instead, I created my own patterns with brush and palette knife marks. I wanted to make their beaks the focal point, as well as the small accents in the blue-gray scene. I like how the underpainting in transparent oxide red is showing through here and there, and echos with the pink legs of the birds.