\
As I concluded my evening of painting one night, I was trying
to decide exactly
how I would paint the light on the ocean. To give me a better sense of the
areas
of color and value I decided to throw on a simple wash of thin paint down
to
the bottom of the painting. Knowing that this would be dry when I returned,
I knew that I could paint over it as I pleased.
After studying several photos I had of ocean waves at various
stages of sunset
and sunrise, I painted the darkest parts of the water lighter on the right
side
of the painting nearest the sun. I reduced the value contrast of the foam
in the
middle and background by adding subdued purples and blues so that it would
not distract from the figure, and I played up the warmth of the foreground
shallow water and wet sand.
As I painted the water, I realized that I had the waves
rising too high on the land
at the left so that my horizon lines on either side of the figure did not
align properly.
At the same time I had been thinking that the rocky shoreline needed more
emphasis.
The solution to both problems was to paint more rocks below the land mass,
doubling
the height of the rocky cliff.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12