Water and Light

 

An interesting variation in blues combined with a warm, high contrast centre of interest give this seascape plenty of impact. We will use a simple, direct approach to capture the atmosphere of this blast of warm sun light.

Tips

• Phthalo with care
  Phthalo Blue is an incredibly strong pigment. Use a minute amount if you are not used to it. It is easy to add a little more, but once you over do it you can be in real trouble!

• Preserve Whites
  It is easy to get carried away while you are painting and wash completely over the white areas you want to retain. You can use masking fluid as insurance. Paint it on in slightly smaller patches than you wish to keep, then paint up to the area around the masking fluid but not quiet touching it. That way you wont get the hard masking fluid edge, but if you do happen to get carried away, you wont loose the whites completely.

• Watch your edges
  Variety is what you are after right through your painting. Varying the edges eventually becomes second nature, but at first you will have to make a conscious effort to keep an eye on them. Look at the horizon line in this painting. Imagine it was a hard sharp edge from one end to the other - it would jump out and just wouldn’t look right. If it was all soft and lost it would recede but the distance would loose definition. By varying the edge we get a much more interesting line, the distance still recedes, but our eye doesn't escape over the horizon.

• Substitute Colors
  Indian Yellow can be used in place of Quinacridone Gold. Prussian or Windsor blue can be used if you don’t have Phthalo Blue

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