Going large

I've been wanting to do a large painting for a while. I usually do the standard 9x12", 16x20", or mini's. For this one I picked a 36x36" canvas, and since it does not fit on my easel, I attached it to the wall. This is my progress over a few weeks.

I chose to paint a sky picture, since I'm always looking at clouds. I used a couple of my little 6x6" paintings as a reference.
Here it is with the first blocking in of blue sky.

 Next was light grey and darker areas.

 Then some lighter areas, and trying to get that layered look of clouds.
This is about the stage where I start doubting myself if it will go anywhere, the stage to push through and keep going.

That fun stage of making the clouds pop with whites and very light greys. Besides the greys I used a little yellow here and there on the top of the clouds.

 Adding the ocean and beach (too yellow).

The original 6x6" has a person on the beach and nothing else, but I thought for this one it needed just a bit more. The clouds are still the main attraction, but the beach needed something too. So I added some more texture and specks of color, with a couple of seagulls and sailboats in the distance. You have to look close to see them.

I tweaked the clouds a little more; sometimes you can keep picking at a painting endlessly, but that does not make it better so you just have to say 'finished' and not touch it anymore.

This was a lot of fun to do, and it won't be the last large one I do! Working large felt like a little more freedom, specially working with large brushes. None of that tiny work, not until the end anyway. 

Thanks for looking!