North Carolina Seaside Storm for a Friend

A friend of a friend asked me to paint a stormy scene based off of her photo on the North Carolina coast. I usually paint very small panels, 5x7" and smaller, so painting a 16x20" on canvas was a newer experience for me.

Although the scene looks relatively simple, keeping the drama and diagonals without turning it to mush proved challenging. I've tried the composition in several different palettes, developing the unseen 'swoop' of the sand beneath the foreground surf because what we can't see does affect what we do see.