Reimagining A Reference Photo for a Commission

'Back to the Shore'                11x14                pastel               ©Karen Margulis
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 I don't mind doing commission paintings. Especially when you are working with someone that gives you the freedom to work with the reference and make changes. The best kind of commission is when you are told "I trust you".  This was the case with this beach commission. I loved the photo but it had compositional issues. Have a look at the photo below. What problems does it have? What would you do to redesign the scene? (scroll down to read what I decided to do and why)

The reference photo and my redesigned sketch

The issue with the photo is the arrangement of the clumps of beach grass. The way they are presented in the photo creates a visual barrier to enter into the rest of the painting. Look at how the grass goes across the entire foreground. It is dense and much of it is the same height adding to the feeling of a barrier.

The catch was the client loved the grasses. That is what drew her to the scene. So I had to be careful about removing too much grass! She gave me permission to remove some as long as I agreed to add some back if she wanted more. So I knew they were important!

• I wanted to create a subtle pathway through the grasses to lead back to the beach and sea. 
• I didn't want the somewhat cliched beach scenes with a clump of grass on each side of a center path. (I've done those before!)
• I chose to move the center clump over the the left slightly. This opened up a subtle path just right of center. 
• I chose to vary the height and thickness of the taller grasses and eliminate any tall grass in the center. 
• Look for the thin dark piece of grass near the center that is directing the eye to the break in the grasses leading us to the sea.

Below I am showing a photo of the underpainting. I used pastel with an alcohol wash on 11x14 mounted white pastel premier sanded paper. 

My out of focus underpainting done with an alcohol wash