Building Waves

I really enjoy painting water, except at the beginning, some parts in the middle, and toward the end.
Fortunately, I know that and can work through areas and stages which don't look "wet" at all.

This small piece (7.75" X 11.25") is a good example of what I mean.

 At this stage I am blocking in the colors. To me it doesn't look like much at all and the painting is truly in one of those ugly stages.

Using a very soft brush, I blend the edges of the colors together. Sometimes I am a bit heavy-handed and need to add more color blocks. This is also a good time to adjust the depth and hue of the colors.

At this stage I like the painting again. I see form and direction. The addition of the light blue (which is a shadowed highlight) really helped.

The highlights are the fun part. Here is where the wave starts to come together. The "white" is titanium white and cadmium yellow deep. My brush moves around the painting adjusting each section. Sometimes an area which I thought should be light looks better darkened and vise versa.

Near the end of the painting I reach another difficult section. The wave is nothing without a convincing watery stage. Introducing blues and sand colors, I weave them in among the foam.

The birds and sand will be the final segment.

Thanks to my blog followers for your patience. It has been a busy show season and my blog fell among those things which did not get done. I'll strive to post more regularly. Thanks for following.