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 by Dennis Clark  Click the picture to open a large printable version in a new window What colours are used in this painting ? French Ultramarine Crimson Alizarin Cadmium Orange Cadmium Yellow Yellow Ochre Viridian Raw Umber Titanium White Medium Used : Oil on Canvas Board General Not many artists are able to portray the moods of the sea correctly. The main reason for this is that one needs to really understand the mechanics of the moving masses of water and how they react with each other. In open expanses of water there are various forces that act on it, namely, the current or internal underwater movements caused by temperature changes (convection currents), other masses of water coming into it, such as rivers, and of course, wind action. Other factors are earthquakes which produce shock waves that affect the sea surfaces on the open sea as well as huge waves hitting the shorelines of countries often thousands of kilometres away from the source of eruption. For a short lesson on wave mechanics click HERE My video Seascape 1 deals only with normal coastal waves on a clear almost windless day. In this tutorial I will be helping you paint storm waves coming almost sideways on to the shore. Here you see the wave passing you from the left to the right and then only the back of the main wave with the right-hand edge having a twist to it and forming a small breaker ready to splash down on the sand in front of you. To create mood and also the right circumstances the sky is stormy with just a hint of a break in the clouds which let in just enough sunlight to add some contrasting highlights. The waves are lit from the top left hand corner of the painting. Pencil Sketch  All that one needs to draw on the canvas board, or whatever support you may be using, is only a few main lines indicating the shapes of the water masses. The original painting is on an 18" X 24" (457mm X 610mm) canvas board. TIP: Instead of using a normal graphite pencil use a dark gray (or similar colour) watercolour pencil to sketch with. Any mistakes can simply be wiped off cleanly with a slightly damp cloth, or ear-bud if there is fine detail. Let it dry! Painting the Sky & Clouds  The colours used for the storm clouds are: French Ultramarine, Crimson Alizarin, Cadmium Orange and Titanium White. In the picture above I have started to block in the clouds. The middle section is a blue gray mixture of Ultramarine and Alizarin + White; the bottom left with a very light mixture of the previous mixture + a touch of orange to give a bit of warmth. Don't make this area too light as we want the sunlit clouds to stand out. The top right hand cloud area is a dark mixture of Ultramarine and Alizarin biased slightly to the blue side. This adds drama to the huge swells and tells of heavy storm just out of the picture area. For the clouds first squeeze out some White and add a TINY amount of Orange to it (you can always add more to suit). This is just a bit too bright for the scene so add a small amount of the gray mix to it to cool it down.  Add the clouds and fade out the edges slightly to indicate a hazy atmosphere. We don't want the clouds to compete with the main focal area, which is the huge wave. Below is a detail pic of the bottom left cloud.  Starting the Waves Blocking in the Darks  Mix Ultramarine and Viridian together to form a dark blue-green. Work from the back to the foreground. The furthest waves on the left are a lighter colour of the above mix with a small touch of orange added. Don't try to get into detail at the moment - just fix the movement of the water. ALL brush strokes MUST be in the direction of the flow. Take extra care in this area of painting. Note the patches of yellow green mixed with White+ a touch of Lemon or Cadmium Yellow. This indicates the areas where the sun shines through the thinned out layers of water. Filling In  Add more White to the dark mixture used for blocking and use this to fill in the areas between the dark areas of the wave. Be careful not to paint these areas in too dark so as to minimize the darks. Be just as careful not to make it too light otherwise the highlights will not show up properly. Any change will alter the mood of the weather. Later why not do another painting and experiment in this area. Experimenting is the best way of learning. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes are stepping stones on the way to success!! Adding the Spray  Add the spray on the wave. Notice that the spray gets left behind as the wave moves forward. Final Highlights  The final highlights are put on gently and carefully with a touch of orange added to the previous highlight mixture. Don't cover up all the previous whitened highlights. This orange highlight is added mostly to the bottom left hand area of the main wave with a few added to the top left hand section of the main wave. This is to add warmth to the mass of cold water. Orange being the opposite on the colour wheel compliments the blue and adds drama. For the sand brush on a mixture of Yellow Ochre and a touch of Raw Umber with White. Adding the Rocks  The rocks are added to the bottom left hand corner to place the waves near a shoreline and not out in the open sea. The dark area in the sky gives visual balance with the rocks. Add the rock underpainting with Raw Umber (Or a strong brown mixed from Ultramarine and a touch of Orange - experiment!!!) with a painting knife. Mixing it into the blue underpainting will give some darker areas. A stronger mix of Orange with a slight touch of Raw Umber is added with the knife to form the surfaces of the rocks. Let some mix into the underpainting to form detailed shadow areas. Completing the Painting  All that needs to be done now is the foreground. The calm water at the bottom of the painting is put in with downward strokes with some of the rock colour blended in as well as the darker colour of the smaller wave. Don't smooth out the vertical brush strokes as these stripes indicate calm water. Add the small splash at the right hand side with its shadow. The foam on the water and also deposited on the sand is the same colour as the highlights in the main wave. Give your painting a final look-over. Add the gulls for interest. Well done, it wasn't so bad after all was it? Why not email us a pic of your completed painting for an "encourager session"? We will give you some positive feedback on your painting. Send your pics to nolan(at)paintbasket.co.za If you enjoyed this tutorial, please don't forget to sign our guestbook. Happy Painting! To ensure that you are notified when new tutorials are added you can join our mailing list by clicking HERE.
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