Art Demonstration continued...Beach Painting

Here is my latest couple of hours work on the Howth Head from Portmarnock beach painting. I am working at a slower pace these days due to other demands on my time, but I am still managing to fit in an hour here or there. The top photo was taken outdoors with a brighter sun than the later one, hence some colour variation. The lower photo is probably more representative of the colours in normal light. I added a new colour to those already in the painting, ultramarine blue. Mixing this with the raw umber helped give the darker beach colour. I use various combinations of the blues with white and umber to acheive the variation in the beach. It's important to have plenty of interest and tonal variations to create interest. I usually rely on an instinctive approach, where I keeping creating this variety until I feel it's enough. Obviously this extent of shading variation and approach will differ from artist to artist. That's what defines our style. From the amount of painting I've done in the past while, I am feeling that I am developing a more consistent style, and one I feel comfortable with...so far. That's not to say I can't work on improving...there's always room for that. So hope to finish this painting this week or soon.