30 in 30, #25 — Welcome to Seal Beach

Welcome to Seal Beach, 6"x6", oil on panel, $100

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This 30 in 30 Challenge is all about two things for me: painting consistently (daily), and challenging myself with each painting. The first couple of paintings this month were just getting my brushes wet again after a long holiday. I've done a lot of flowers, tried a few new paint colors, some new paint mixes, a boat on a blistering hot beach (literally), and some interior bed and pillow scenes. I've really enjoyed painting things in my kitchen window.

Today I painted a scene that I see at least once a week, the City Hall of Seal Beach. Our church is across the street, so I see this view most every Sunday. It's a charming building, and my reference photos encouraged me to push the sky color a bit, but it really looks like this. To make it more of a challenge, I used a new brand of paints, and a very limited palette of five colors plus white. I had planned to use only four plus white, but had to add a touch of pthalo blue to get the sky color where I wanted it.

Seal Beach is a great town. The best day of the year is the last Saturday in April, when about 550 classic cars are parked along Main Street and Ocean Boulevard, and about 30,000 people descend on the little town. It's crazy, but so much fun. Maybe I need to paint some scenes from the car show. Hmmm.