White shell sand runs down to water that changes from clear to turquoise to deep blue within a few yards of the shore. A low croft sits back from the beach with hills rising behind it and nothing else in sight in either direction. There is nobody on the sand and nothing on the water. The only movement in the whole scene is the light shifting across the shallows as cloud passes over, and even that happens slowly. All that water is the test. Long passages of blue with only tone to separate them, which sounds unpromising and turns out to be the most satisfying part of the build once the shading starts to click. The croft and the hills offer somewhere firm to begin, then you work outwards into the sand and finally into the sea. It rewards good light on your table, and it is one of the few images we sell that looks better finished than it does on the box.
