Manhattan Beach Sunset, 2026 by Ray Patrick — original gouache painting — 2026.002.002

Subject

The ocean at dusk from the sand, with no incident in it at all — a bank of cloud, the sea, a line of surf and the wet beach, and nothing else.

Composition

Five horizontal bands stacked across the full width, unequal in depth and parallel to the frame. There is no vertical anywhere in the picture and no focal point; the eye is held by the bands themselves rather than sent anywhere.

Palette

Dusty rose and mauve in the sky, cut by one hot magenta streak at the cloud base. Below it a cold cerulean sea, a near-black headland, and a pale strip of surf against the brown of wet sand.

Handling

Short horizontal strokes laid shoulder to shoulder, each one a separate loaded touch, so every band is a weave of its own colour rather than a flat fill. Nothing is blended and no edge is softened.

Medium and support

Gouache on paper. Opaque and matte throughout; the pale surf sits over the dark sea as a solid body. The paper is left unpainted at the edges.

Signature

Lower right, raypatrick, brushed small in blue over the brown sand, almost the same value as the ground it sits on.