Finished

 

Surf's Up

12" X 40

Original Oil

 

Scanned image

 

The painting took longer than the blog's elapsed time but after not posting for quite a while I thought an accelerated post was in order.

 

 

Pelicans

 

Having the brown pelicans in the painting imparts another element of timelessness and movement. The painting is 12" X 40" so there doesn't need to be a huge amount of detail in the bird. In fact, if there were, the pelican would look stuck on rather than a part of the painting.

 

Starting on the next bird.

 

Spray

 I divide water spray in to two general categories: spot and brushed. 

For spots I paint individual dots of "white" water.

For brushed I paint small bit of "white" and gently blend them together. 

 

 

Moving Rocks

 

I guess this is less moving rocks than removing rocks. In my original concept I thought I would have a lower left rock to suggest how close to the shore this wave is. However, after roughing it in (see the previous post) all the rock was doing was breaking the flow of the water. Which I guess is what rocks along the shore do, but it wasn't adding anything to the movement in the painting.

 

 Above I am starting to fill in the "white" on the right foam. My whites generally are titanium white with a touch of cadmium yellow dark. I am not fulling covering the yellow ochre wash underneath. Leaving the warm "space" tends to add a vibrating feeling to the water.

More wave

 

 

Now that I have some painted texture in the lower section, the movement in the painting is starting to come together. The three disparate sections (background blue, wave, and lower shore water) feel more integral to one another.

Modification

 

Coming back to work on the next section I found the "background" water much too light. It wouldn't show off the wave the way I want it to so I painted it darker. Sometimes a section I want to change is still wet enough to rework as this section was. I find painting water requires constant modification. 

A breaking wave

Last fall's drive down the Oregon and California coasts was filled with inspiration. 

 

My first painting from the trip features a breaking wave. An elongated format seemed best as I worked out the composition. Of course I wanted to incorporate a few of the brown pelicans who were flying among the waves.

 

 

When painting water I like to block out a lot of uninterrupted  time so I can work wet-on-wet and easily blend the edges. Though oil paint is slow-drying, some colors dry more quickly than others. My browns can dry overnight and whites can take more than a week. (I don't use a medium and mix directly from the tube so the colors are not diluted.) Working in one section at a time works best for me.