Painting Basics 611
First let's look at a couple of examples of the brush strokes
these two brushes can produce.(this is a very small sample)

Start with the Paint Brush Preset Fine Brush
Size 50 Transparency 35 Soft Edge 100
and set your line options to straight line
You can copy this and take into PI if you want to use similar colors
by using the eyedropper and color on screen

Make about 4 passes with the top color
Start by clicking on the far left of your canvas and drag to the far right
Do this for each of the colors
2 with the orange
3 with the second blue
2 with the sandy color
You can always come back and darken these if you want to later

Continue using the Paint brush Change the Preset to Ribbon
Size 45/Transparency 70/Soft Edge 100
Still using the straight line option
Choose a color a little darker than your middle blue
and start at the left side (top for your horizon line) and drag all the way to the right
Do this 2 or three times right under each other as close as possible
Then leaving everything else the same
change the color to white and make some wave marks in your water
only this time you want to drag the ribbon down
just a bit rather than keeping it straight
it makes a softer line . Do a straight line and
you will see the difference (then you can undo)

Now change the color to a little darker brown and the
Transparency to about 35
Click on the texture tab (select texture) and choose Paper 7
(last one in the top row)
Still using the staright line option run from the top to the bottom of the sand
as many times
as needed to achieve a similar look

Change the Color to a darker brown leaving all the settings the same
except the line option and change that to freehand.
Dragging the ribbon in a back and forth motion make some dark spots in the sand

Choose the Warp tool Size 20 Level 65 SoftEdge 50 and
squiggle the white lines just a little bit at a time (you can always undo)

Switch to the Paint tool Fine Brush Size 10 Transparency 35 Soft Edge 5
and put a yellow dot in your orange

Switch back to the Ribbon Preset Size 40 Transparency 40
Soft Edge 50 and choose an almost white and drag the ribbon
in a back and forth motion at the edge of the sand and to add to the waves
then choose the blur tool size 60 Level 2 Soft Edge 50
and click about 3 or 4 times over the sun
then gently blend the rest of the colors together.........

From here you should have a pretty good idea how to use
these couple of tools. So now I want you to play with the picture .
Add a few dark spots or shells to your sand or make a very fine line across the sun with an orange using the ribbon or make a water path through the sand as I have done here.
You can darken any areas using similar settings to what we used in the beginning.
Make your orange sun line a bit uneven.. Have fun and don't be afraid to experiment
a bit..that is what is so great about the undo. There are a few sand examples for this tutorial here, if you would like to experiment a little further.

Here is my finished picture