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Submitted: September 19, 2010
Image Size: 17.8 MB
Resolution: 8000×6400

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Phra Nang Beachby `Laurazee

Traditional Art / Paintings / Landscapes & Scenery

Phra Nang Beach, Thailand
May 2010
Acrylic on Canvas, 20" x 16"

This was a wedding present for my cousin, who met her fiancé on Haad Yao Beach in Thailand. I wanted the painting to be a surprise so I used the source photo from one of their Facebook albums. It had a picture of a couple walking along that looked like they could be the happy couple, so I decided to paint it. Turns out it's actually Phra Nang Beach and the distinctive rock formation is called Happy Island. Cool! That works. As well, the translucency of the water and the natural framing of the trees, the dramatic side mountain and cloud formation makes it an appealing landscape.

The colors used are mostly to match their décor, though I used some contrasting reds and purples to add vibrancy and passion. The rainbow effect of using the entire color spectrum gives the picture a prismatic, joyful effect.

Landscapes always have to have a "path in" to lead the viewer into the picture. I like the fact that the two figures are walking into the picture, to some destination unseen. The eye goes diagonally, following the beach line left to right. The large cloud formation even seems to point towards the unseen area where the couple is headed.

Clouds and water are always my favorite things to paint. Clouds in particular because they can be interpreted in brush swirls and air currents. In these clouds, the air currents and swirls indicate something joyful and celebratory is happening. The warmth of the beach, the tranquility of the water, and the zig-zaggy shoreline make it seem like there's a perpetual stroll along a paradisiacal beach. An ongoing journey, a metaphor for life.

Source photo is here: [link]

*edited title: a kind commenter pointed out that this is really Phra Nang beach, not Haad Yao. Oops!

~LeonieZurakowsky Dec 9, 2011 Digital Artist

OMG this looks so much like where I used to live in Krabi, Thailand I almost wonder if it really is Phra Nang beach! In fact I'm sure this is Happy Island! Lovely! I'm so happy to hear that one of those beach-side romances lived on.

Haad Yao Beach as I just looked up, appears to be on the west side of the country though - so perhaps another of their vacation locations? Also I think this is the only area in Thailand where karsts - limestone cliffs favoured by the swifts that produce nests used in the famous Chinese birdsnest soup - appear. There seems to be a strip of them across that part of Asia...

`Laurazee Dec 10, 2011 Professional Traditional Artist

By golly, you're right.

I took the image from the groom's Facebook page and painted it as a surprise for the happy couple. I thought I was being all clever. They met on Haad Yao beach on a trip to Thailand so I assumed this was the beach. Oops. Well, hopefully it was a place they went to.

Thailand looks lovely. I've never been. I'll have to change the title.

~LeonieZurakowsky Dec 10, 2011 Digital Artist

Point is - it's a great painting and an incredible place that even after leaving in 1997 and not having been back again since 2003, it's rare that I don't dream about it at least once a week! I long to go back for an extended stay.

Go there at your first chance! Stay in Bangkok - Sukhumvit Road area is reasonable and near a skytrain station (yes the tech came from here!) for a week or so for shopping - amazing - and seeing the temples and historic sites.

Then off to the beaches and islands - some of them still remarkably unspoiled or at least the last time I looked. Of course there has been appalling damage in some areas, long before tourists came I think.

For a super taste of Thailand before you go, read the book "Mai Pen Rai Means Nevermind" about an American woman in the 50's-60's whose husband is transferred to Bangkok by the oil company he works for. I used to read it every time I was planning a trip there!

~LeonieZurakowsky Dec 9, 2011 Digital Artist

Here's my recent fractal take on the beach and area [link] Sure wish I could dig out some of my many photos from here but they're nowhere near the top of the pile!

~LeonieZurakowsky Dec 9, 2011 Digital Artist

[link]

~weida34 Sep 20, 2010 Hobbyist

.. just beautiful!

`Laurazee Sep 20, 2010 Professional Traditional Artist

Thank you!

~Drummerxkiller Sep 20, 2010 Student General Artist

It is so fantastic, I drool behind the creative way your reflexion in the water of your paintings are so beautiful!And the composition is just so perfect. I like so much the colorations you used for original shading like purple for the water or orange/purple on the sand (trees shade).I also very like that sky because the stormy look of the clounds.But wath I prefer the most is the green rocky island. I like motions and textures of it.Keep ity up like this, you area talented person.

`Laurazee Sep 20, 2010 Professional Traditional Artist

G, you are truly kind. Thank you!

~Drummerxkiller Sep 20, 2010 Student General Artist

You totally deserve all these words ,Laura

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