On the Beach, San Clemente

In March 2020 I was thinking of doing a painting of the famous pier in San Clemente.  I had done a number of small watercolor sketches but felt the right composition was eluding me.  I wanted to convey a sense of what I felt when I visited -- the pier was a landmark, to be sure, but it was also a fixture in a broader setting of sand, ocean, cliffs and palm trees.  So I decided on a view that did not attempt to depict the entire pier, but rather its heart -- the point where pier, beach, sea and people all meet.  The result was this watercolor, showing the sweep of the beach from near to far, with the pier in the middle, and adding the figures on the beach for perspective.