There is stretch of unspoiled beach that runs for 10/20 miles at San Onofre, between San Diego and Los Angeles. The depth of space is shocking to the senses; so much sand running on until it disappears. Painting that depth is a great challenge, especially with my light mantra--after I block out the composition, I have 40 minutes to paint. I look at my watch and stop when time is up. But, I edited this and others in my studio after a great deal of contemplation.

I love special technical aspects of painting, as long as they serve the subject well. Here the light of the beach moves back into the distance, then it  is picked up again by the sky in a whiplash effect. I always feel moved every time I notice that. There is also a tripod of darks: the stretched segment of wet sand, the brush above the cliffs on the right, and the segment of dark blue/green on the horizon, left. Taken together, they look like they might have been thrown outwards from a propeller.  I used the dark effects to create a kind of perspective star burst--an intense sense of expansion.