New Daily Oil Painting "Dusk on the Dunes"

Dusk on the Dunes
Mark Nesmith
Oil on Canvas
12" x 16"
2014

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It's been a hectic week in the classroom with STAAR testing going on, so I needed a little vacation.  No days off left to use so I had to settle for the next best thing...I painted myself a day at the beach.

Growing up in Beaumont, TX the beach was just a short drive away.  My family and I often visited Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Penninsula and crossed the ferry to Galveston. Over the fifteen years or so that I lived in or near Dallas, trips to the coast became less and less frequent.  Since moving back to SE Texas after my divorce I've made it a point to visit the coast as often as I can.

I've posted many paintings of Bolivar Flats, one of my favorite stretches of beach.  It's a birding area and less frequented by the tourist trade.  It sits just a short distance before the ferry landing to Galveston so lots of people miss it in their rush to make it to the island. 

Bolivar Flats is a beautiful, open stretch of beach with lots of dunes and vegetation. Turn to your right and you can see Galveston in the distance.  Turn to the left and you can get a glimpse of some of the homes along Crystal Beach, but look towards the Gulf and it's easy to imagine yourself completely alone in a remote, un-spoiled part of the world. 

Here I've painted the beach late in the day when the last rays of light start to slip away at dusk.  During my week of standardized testing, this serene scene helped me keep my sanity!