Hermosa Beach Clouds, 2026

Gouache on paper
6.5 × 4.5 in. (16.5 × 11.4 cm)
Unframed

From the artist's studio, 2026

2026.080.009

$400 + $25 shipping in the US

Subject

Cloud over a beach street at dusk, with a car driving away from the viewer, palms along the right, and the sea just visible at the end of the road.

Composition

Nine tenths sky, with the road and the car compressed into the bottom strip. The palms rise at the right and are cropped by the top edge; everything else is cloud, massed in horizontal ranks.

Palette

Violet, periwinkle and slate throughout the cloud, with cream and pale yellow where the light breaks through low down. The road is mauve; the palms near-black. Nothing is warm except the thin band at the horizon.

Handling

The cloud is built from flat irregular dabs, each a separate touch, laid so their edges stay visible — the sky is a mosaic rather than a wash. The car is a single dark shape with two strokes for its lights.

Medium and support

Gouache on paper. Matte and fully opaque; the pale cloud is painted over the blue rather than reserved out of it. Unpainted margins all round.

Signature

Along the lower edge, raypatrick, in orange over the road, letters widely spaced.

From the artist:

Often times clouds stretch endlessly across the sky over Hermosa Beach. The ocean is enticing and the clouds are intoxicating.