Tag: ocean

In Acadia

Acadia National Park is one of the most incredible parks – wild, rugged, beautiful.

Another painting with watercolor on Vision paper; again more direct approach. Not sure how good this looks online as the scan was not especially good.

This was a challenge altogether. Goal was simply to simplify. The rocks were not so easy to do as they are complicated in a lot of ways, at least here. They are very rectangular and sharp. I used broad strokes – and then some more – and then some more, each getting smaller. The trees, foreground, lighting were difficult as it was sunset or sunrise and catching the colors felt elusive. It feels overworked to me, but this is practice with both the paper and subject.

Vision watercolor paper, 140# CP, watercolor, 9 x 12.

Scarborough Bluffs

More work on painting more directly in watercolor. It is becoming easier but it still presents a mental challenge. By nature – though experience shows otherwise – I think of watercolor as splashy and fast. Well, it is not! Patience is paying off as I am rather enjoying my latest forays into watercolors.

To enlarge, click on the image.

Once more, a panorama in my current sketchbook. This one is simpler, I think, than my previous one, so it did not take as long – about 90 minutes, including using the hair dryer to dry things off.

First, sketch in with pencil the entire drawing. From there, wet the sky, leaving edges for the cliffs and trees, though I really didn’t worry about the trees too much. I knew the trees would be using dark, thick paint. The bluffs, though, needed to be fairly free of color and water, though if you look at the far left, you can see a bit of sky color ended up in the bluffs.

Colors for the sky were essentially ultramarine and cobalt mixed together. I mixed a large area of wash and applied the color after wetting the paper. To create the clouds I blotted out a lot of color. This is always a fun and scary part of any painting!!

While waiting for the sky to dry a bit, I worked on the water, the shore, and the land mass on the right. The lowest tree mass, too, was done with a mixture of colors. I am not really satisfied with it, but it is okay and not too messy or overdone. Once these areas – sea and shore and shrubbery – dried I moved onto the bluffs themselves.

The bluffs will vary in color, depending on sky and time of day. I decided these should be bright as is the sky. Mixing up a light grey is a challenge, so I did a bit of cobalt, yellow ochre, and bit of what I think may be quinacridone rose. (Alizarin crimson would work, too.). I mixed together very small amounts of each and diluted it heavily. I used this to lay int he lighter areas of the bluffs, leaving some areas plain white paper. From there, darker shades, yellower shades, lines and fissures.

The final stages were details. Trees on the bluffs, some green along the right side shore, varying color in the water, shadowed areas in the bluffs, and splattered color on the lower right. Finally, a couple of figures to give scale – these bluffs are really tall!

Watercolor in sketchbook on 140# CP paper, about 8 x 18 inches.

At the End of the World

Today and yesterday were really rather discombobulating. Does getting older mean you are more set in your ways and less able to adapt to changes in the daily routine? Either that or my allergies just make me a bit crazy – this morning I had one of my sneezing fits where I sneeze about 30 times in a row. That is exhausting to the point I need a nap.

And nap I did. But then I decided to do something creative, and back to watercolor (my real first love in painting) and work on something idyllic, wet and watery, full of rocks, and put it in my sketchbook so I won’t take myself too seriously.

Click on the image to enlarge!

The Strathmore Vision paper works really well with little re-working of any part of the painting. I decided to see how the sketchbook would do with the same approach, as well as the more personal challenge of being more direct in color application.

With watercolor, many artists work with very wet paper, and while I like that, I prefer to have wet paper – as for the sky and the sea – but I also like to have layers. If you paint into wet color, your next incursion must be more pigment and less water than you are moving into, otherwise you get what are called blooms or cauliflowers. You can also paint onto dry paint and these won’t occur, and you can use thinner or thicker paint – less or more pigment combined with water. My sketchbook has good paper – far better than the Vision paper – so I could do all these things, and did.

First, wet the sky area, then drop in stripes of blues. Next, wet in the water, from horizon to the inlet area, all in about the same shades of blue, but darker than the sky. Let that dry. While that is going on, I painted in the greens on the right, blending colors into each other for gradations of green. The rocks, too, were painted with varying colors, working to leave bits of unpainted paper for a bit of pop and to indicate areas with more sun that shadow. Slowly I put in details, such as the waves or ripples in the lower right of the inlet, cracks in the rock, and so on. Large colors and masses first, finalized with contrast and detail.

I am pleased with this painting. I accomplished my task of direct painting with some modification – not a lot – later as I moved into detail. I drew in the general shapes with a pencil. The foreground rocks on the left and bottom were a challenge, but I think I have enough detail to make them interesting but not distracting. The same with the land mass on the right. Overall it took about 2 hours to do complete this watercolor.

Watercolor sketchbook, watercolor, about 7 x 18.

1. The Cove Below

Siena Blue did a series of 30 gouache studies – and she/he did a beautiful job! Inspired, I have decided to do a series of gouache paintings over the next several days, but I am not setting myself a goal as to how many. Gouache can be returned to easily enough as the paint re-wets quite well. As I have not worked in gouache lately and my life is going to be rather crazy over the next few weeks, it seems like the perfect medium for playtime.

So, a view looking over the edge of a cliff (I assume) taken somewhere on Capri – thus states the Pixabay description. As it is now summer, a rocky coastline, and a moored sailboat on a turquoise sea is quite a pleasant thought!

When I first began exploring gouache I found the work of Lena Rivo, observed her YouTube videos and took her short course. Both really helped me get a sense of how gouache works – it’s not watercolor nor oil or acrylic – and has an odd opacity that takes some getting used to – the colors are unique in many ways as there is a lot of white filler in the colors. Good quality gouache paints are opaque and cover well. All of my colors here are the same Lena Rivo uses, made by Holbein.

Gouache, about 8×10.

Big Sur, Looking South

Big Sur along the California coast is an incredibly beautiful bit of the state – at once wildly beautiful, in many ways easily accessible along Hwy 1, but delicate, too, as it is easily destroyed by heavy rains creating mudslides. Parts of it are rugged with mountains rising up and coming down into the Pacific Ocean. Hwy 1 skirts along, and it is always best to be the passenger so you can enjoy the wonderful views.

From where I live, you drive north, past Santa Barbara and then veer off on the 101 in an area marked on the map as Las Cruces. You could continue up the 101 up to San Luis Obispo, cutting west toward Morro Bay and then along the coast. Before you get deep into Big Sur, the mountains are toward the east, and there is a coastal plain. Slowly the landscape changes as the flatter areas disappear and the mountains move ever closer.

The entire drive is a delight. Coastal fog may drift in and out, and no matter where you look, the beauty is breathtaking. I have tried to catch this in the distance and along the horizon. The Canson XL paper is nice to paint on, and I used Gamblin Galkyd gel to speed up the drying time, but it sat in the garage this past week so I could ignore it and look at life away from the studio. Getting some time away from a painting is always a good thing as eyes are fresh upon the return. I was pleased with what I saw, and so scanned it, and present it to you for your viewing.

Painted on 11×14 Canson XL Acrylic / Oil Paper, about 10×10.