Diamond Head Tranquility

I've no idea why, but this painting somehow came out of my brush today effortlessly.  First of all, sister Sue wanted a painting of Diamond Head, but she did not want the one I already did because she wants DH to be brown and green like it is most of the time.  My first painting has DH all light green.  So I had my orders, haha. Things just worked out.

Did the sky first like always.  Used pthalo blue on top, and just a smidge of alizarin crimson from horizon up, to make a faint blush.  Blended in between to a light lavendar.  Used the small stiff fan brush for clouds when normally I use the 1" or 2" full flat brushes.  Tried to be really random in cloud strokes.  I think I got rewarded with a very loose and natural sky.

Did Diamond Head next.  Just varied brown with white first to get ridges at the top of the mountain.  Then used shades of sap green for the lower half of the mountain, extending the ridges down.  Finally used sap green with black and brown to create the tree and shrub line at the bottom of DH.

Sue likes lighter blue oceans, so I mixed a little white with pthalo blue for the base of the top half of the ocean.  Bottom half of the ocean to the shoreline is pthalo green, but blended by strokes all over the top and bottom halves.  Decided to make more foam and splashes, and less of the rolling crest of the wave, and I am very pleased with it.  I think it looks more natural than the waves I have been making.

The sand is a mix of yellow ochre with the sienna and van dyke browns, with some white tossed in.  By blending the strokes with the water right at the shoreline, the sand gets darker near the water, as it should be!  I like that effect.  I used the small palette knife and a combo of liquid white and titanium white to make the foam lines at the shore and on the sand.  Blended the knife scrapes out with the soft fan brush.  Oh boy, I like the results.

I am extremely pleased, so much so that I decided not to add trees and rocks, to preserve the tranquil and smooth feeling I accidentally created.  Thank you Bob Ross.

UPDATE several hours later:  After looking at the painting, I detected a greenish tinge to the sand, which just ain't right.  It hurt to do it, but I scraped off the foam from the beach, recoated and blended the beach to be more yellow ochre, less green.  I decided then to add some rocks after putting new foam lines in.  Came out okay, but I was more pleased with the original foamy patterns.  Still, I think the rocks add more interest and tie the painting down better.  Sandy likes the rocks, so that helps!