A wonderful day at the beach

I was running like a maniac at the sea and falling into the high waves and it was wonderful. I did it again and again.

Then I ran into the sea and dived into the waves. 

And then I floated in the sea. I discovered that I float very well. And the feeling of the waves lifting me up was wonderful. I closed my eyes to fully enjoy the sensation.

It was therapeutic, more importantly it was a chance to be silly and play. 

I couldn’t remember when I last did this. Has it been so long?

This was at Sumiyoshihama beach and the second part of my story about a family trip to Kitsuki. The first part of my story was about painting Kitsuki estuary and encountering a water rat.

While at the beach, I managed to do a painting. In fact, I normally always manage to do a painting.

But at first it wasn’t easy to find a scene to paint. I walked about 2 kilometers in hot weather with all my gear looking for a scene to paint. I ended up returning to my original starting point and finding a scene there. 

There were some young men on the beach. They were bare-chested. And I liked the contrast between their pale bodies and the dark green background of the trees. Also the skin color and beach color were almost the same which made for a wonderful composition. Furthermore, they made a great focal point.

The family also had a really good time. They went shopping while I was walking around looking for a scene to paint.

Women just love to shop and they always seem to find a chance to do so. 

But I have to add that my daughter looked so cute in her new bikini. In fact, they all looked rather nice in their new bathing costumes.

I’m quite happy with the painting above that I did of the beach. I think the beach, with the lovely gradation and texture, is the best part of the painting. 

And the figures are pretty good too. Sometimes my figures look too similar. Whereas here there is some variety with some figures being a little stocky and some being a little thin. 

Sadly, the trees are merely passable and perhaps the best I could do on such a hot day when the paint dries quickly in the sunlight.

Below are three more paintings I did of this beach. There are some beautiful beaches around this area.

In the painting above, I love the contrast between the white house and the dark green trees behind. I also liked this viewpoint of looking from the sea towards the beach.

In these paintings, it was really fun to paint the figures and have them doing all kinds of different things.

You can read the first part of this trip here.

That’s all for now, Gareth.

Postscript

This story was originally written in July of 2014. I am editing it in 2022. This story needed very little editing.