Watercolor Retreat day 5

The Final day we painted a girl on the beach.  This was the most challenging painting of the retreat.  There was moving water, reflections on the sand, and a human form.  

We started by painting the wet sand, leaving the area of the girl’s reflection unpainted.  

Then we painted the shadows on her clothes.  I used a grey green color for the shadows of the skirt.  It doesn’t look right now, but when red is painted on top the shadows will look right. 

Next I painted the ocean:

• Leaving bits of white in the foreground for foam, in the mid ground for waves, and in the background for sun reflections.
• Adding darker shadows under the waves at the shoreline

I then painted the girls skin: 

• Leaving highlights, adding mid tone shadows.
• Adding her reflections on the sand.

I painted the girls hair.  Then masked the dots on the skirt and painted it red. The last item was darkening some shadows and finishing the reflection on the wet sand.