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Summer Afternoon at Cooks Beach

August 15, 2023

Summer Afternoon at Cooks Beach
Cooks Beach (Pukaki) is a sheltered white sandy beach with Pōhutukawa trees and “bunny tail” sand tussocks waving gently in the breeze. The three-kilometre long beach is on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand and is protected from the open ocean so does not get the big surf found on other beaches along the coastline. This makes Cooks Beach a wonderful place for families to enjoy the long summer days in and out of the water. 
This scene shows the warm sun filtering through the sane dune tussocks on a warm quiet summer afternoon with the gentle surf beyond lapping at the shore. The beautiful Pōhutukawa trees in bloom provide shade from the sun. I enjoyed painting these, the lovely tones of green, the fiery reds and the tiny details in the masses of stamens.

Summer Afternoon at Cooks Beach, Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand
Original acrylic painting on cedar framed board
By Michelle Bellamy
800 x 500mm
Completed 2023





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