Beach Sunset Painting

Easy beach sunset painting for beginners. Paint a Sunset Beach Scene on wood or canvas. A fun way to add beachy color to your decor!

This beach sunset painting is done on a wood pallet board but you can easily adapt it to a canvas. An acrylic sunset painting is such a fun yet easy way to add bright color to your decor. This one is easy enough for everyone and can be finished to hang outside on your porch, deck, or pool hut. Plus you get a fun textural surprise you can add.

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Beach Sunset painting supplies

12″ x 12″ stretched canvas
Plaid Folk Art Acrylic Paint Colors
Yellow Ocher
Moon Yellow
Wicker White
Autumn Leaves
Prussian Blue

Cobalt Blue Hue
Burnt Umber
Coffee Latte
Linen
Brushes
Donna Dewberry One Stroke set

If you wish to paint this larger on a wood pallet board see how to build one here

Sunset Beach Painting Canvas Layout

First, divide your canvas or surface of choice into thirds. There is no need to be perfect, this is just approximate for the layout.

Divide canvas into thirds for Sunset Beach Painting

Sketch in a beach with a bit of a curve for added interest. You can see the faint pencil line in the next photo.

Paint the Sunset Sky

Double load the 3/4″ flat brush with Yellow Ocher and Moon Yellow. (need to know how to double load? See Basic Brush Strokes here)

Stroke the colors onto the canvas horizontally. To avoid hash marks in the canvas, pull all the way from one side of the canvas to the other in one long stroke.

Paint sunset sky with yellow ocher and moon yellow

Reload and stroke on down to the waterline. Add a touch of Autumn Leaves to your brush and streak it into the yellow. Depending on how wet your yellows are will determine how it blends in.

Let dry. Remember less is more, if you want to add more of the Autumn Leaves color then you can do so later. Streak in a bit of white too. Just a touch.

Beach Underpainting

Load the 3/4″ flat brush with Burnt Umber. Fill in the beach area following the curve of the beach. No need to be perfect. This is just the underpainting that gives the sand some depth.

For the beach painting on wood I created, I added some sand to the wet paint for added texture. This is a fun option you may wish to try sometime.

Let this dry.

Paint the sun

To get the shape of the sun I used a tin can to trace around. You can decide the size of your sun and you can put it higher in the sky if you like. This is your painting.

I wanted the sun to be going down on the horizon so it is a half-circle, but you can make it a full circle higher in the sky.

use a tin can to create a circle for the sun on the sunset beach painting

Paint in the sun with a mix of Wicker White and Moon Yellow. Add more white to make it brighter. You can leave the edges crisp or do as I did and smudge them as if the sun is shimmering in the sky.

To add the smudge drag a dry brush across the sun very lightly before it is fully dry.

Paint the Sunset Beach

Using the 3/4″ flat brush double load with Linen and Wicker White. Paint in the beach following the contours. Add in a touch of Coffee Latte here and there. Let some of the underpainting show through in areas.

paint the beach with coffee latte, wicker white and linen

Adding texture to the Beach

You can just paint on the beach and be content, adding more white to brighten it up but I wanted more texture in mine.

To create the added texture load the 3/4″ scruffy brush with Linen and Wicker White. Pounce the paint-filled brush up and down over the beach leaving a mottled look to the paint.

You could also do this with a wadded up piece of sponge. (as I did on the trees in the Vintage Truck painting)

Paint the Ocean

Tape off the sunset sky so you keep a good line while you paint the ocean. You may get some paint bleed but that can easily be cleaned up.

tape of sunset sky before painting ocean

Double load the 3/4″ flat brush with Prussian Blue and Blue Cobalt Hue. Stroke the paint horizontally, as you did the sunset sky, onto the canvas with the Prussian Blue at the top.

Keep painting on the blue adding more as needed as you descend the canvas. Add less Prussian than Cobalt as you go.

paint the ocean starting with Prussian blue

As you get closer to the beach, add Wicker White to the brush with the Cobalt Hue to lighten the ocean. Come over the beach a touch.

Add wicker white to the cobalt hue as you paint closer to the beach

To merge the beach with the ocean use the 3/4″ scruffy with some Wicker White a dance it along the edge. Let some go into the water and some over the beach. We don’t want a solid line of froth, just a bit here and there.

(note: make sure the scruffy is dry before using, a damp scruffy brush makes a mess)