Ocean

The Ocean painting above I painted in the spring of 2022. But this is the first time I’ve done a blog post to provide a little more information about it…

The Paper: It was painted on Two Rivers paper, which is a hand made paper made in Somerset, England. The painting measures 14″ x 9″ inches (or 35.5 cm x 23 cm), and it was painted on 200 lb paper with a NOT surface. At this point I have to say that this was THE most heavily textured NOT surface paper I have ever used! Also it is very heavily sized, which can make it more of a challenge to paint on. It is superb quality paper, but it’s not a paper I would recommend for beginners… !

Preparation: I began this painting by doing a very light basic pencil sketch of the wave to make sure I got the shape and size of it correct. I used my Derwent 0.7 mm mechanical pencil, which is very fine and the pencil lines don’t show through the painting. I also splattered masking fluid with a toothbrush in the areas where I wanted the sea spray and water splashes to be. When it was completely dry, I was ready to start painting…

Colours: The colours I used were Indigo, Prussian Blue, Phthalo Turquoise, Manganese Blue Hue and Titanium White. I built the shape of the wave up in about three layers, always making sure that some of the previous layers were showing through. This helped to give the wave some depth. I used some W/N Titanium White watercolour, splattered with a toothbrush, to add more sea spray.

I did go through a stage where I wasn’t happy with this painting. But I just walked away and came back to it several days later. With fresh eyes, I made a few adjustments and decided that it was OK!

Above is another ocean wave painting I did in the very early part of lockdown, spring 2020. Large sweeping strokes of bold colour very quickly covered the paper. I painted this on Arches NOT paper, 140 lb.  Daniel Smith watercolors were used, namely Phthalo Blue GS, Prussian Blue, Green Gold and Cobalt Blue. A little bit of sea spray was added at the end courtesy of a little Titanium White Winsor & Newton designer gouache. It measures 29 cm x 19 cm.

In conclusion, I think that when I start painting I usually have a specific idea in my head of what I want my finished painting to look like. But I just have to accept that, sometimes, the watercolours are intent on doing something different and it’s often best to let them have their own way! Just let the watercolours do their own beautiful, magical thing and don’t fiddle… ! Happy painting.