a day at the beach

1999
watercolor on strathmore cold press
9" x 12"

this is one of the last paintings i did under the tutelage of mr. bryans. i was a senior in high school and had reached a plateau in my artwork—i'd learned all i could from him and it was time to make a change. shortly after i finished this piece, mr. bryans announced his retirement and i left the mclean art center to take lessons from the korean lady in annandale. i love this piece, though, and i'm glad that my lessons with mr. bryans ended with some strong artwork reflecting all i learned during the nine years he was my teacher.

this piece didn't actually turn out the way i envisioned it to look before i started. i had taken an interest in pointillism and had been thinking i'd like to try it. i told mr. bryans this information and he told me to place dots next to each other in this fashion. it reminds people more of mosaic tiles than of traditional pointillism, which is great, actually. i've never seen another painting quite like it, and i'm thinking that i'd like to do more works in this style on a larger scale someday.