Manhattan Beach Pier, 2026 by Ray Patrick — original gouache painting — 2026.099.028

Subject

The pier seen from the sand at its landward end, running away to the right where a white building with a red tile roof sits at the far end. Figures stand along the rail; a few more are down on the wet sand beneath it.

Composition

Two long diagonals cross the narrow format: the pier deck falling from upper right to lower left, and the shoreline rising against it. The lamp standards are the vertical counter-beat, spaced wider as they recede, and the pilings below repeat them in shadow.

Palette

Violet and periwinkle hold the upper half, against sand yellows and olive below. Small hot notes — a red trash bin, a green jacket, an orange roof — are placed where the eye needs stopping.

Handling

Flat opaque planes laid wet-on-dry, each shape one decision and left alone. The figures are single loaded strokes with no drawing underneath; the lamp posts are drawn in one pull of near-white over the sea.

Medium and support

Gouache on paper. Matte throughout, no gloss, no raised paint; the pale lamp posts sit solid over the darker sea, which is the opacity that identifies the medium. An unpainted margin shows at the top and right, slightly ragged where the colour runs out.

Signature

Lower right, raypatrick, brush-written in orange-brown, letters touching, following the slope of the sand rather than sitting level.