Bronzing

I was painting at my favorite beach on an absolutely perfect day. I had seen a bright green plastic table with four chairs set against the pure white sand. It was really striking and graphic, but difficult to draw. Then, right in front of me, walks a young Italian couple. They go to the water’s edge, set down their blanket and remove all but the barest essentials. He goes immediately into the water with a mask and snorkel. She stands there watching him... for about five minutes. I couldn’t help myself. The green table had to wait. She was quite tall and athletic, and I painted as fast as I could mix the colors. There was no time to do a preliminary sketch so I just threw the paint down as fast as possible. I did about seven different sketches of this young woman.