#DRAWING OCEAN WAVES FULL#

IвЂ™ve always read that reflections are more muted than the original i.e. When adding reflections in the water, take some liberties. If IвЂ™m doing water highlights on the sea, IвЂ™ll use a brush to gently splash some speckles over the water and that works brilliantly to pull out little highlights of the sun. Instead, find ways to let your tools do the work for you. I donвЂ™t think itвЂ™s worthwhile to try to capture every wave and ripple-it will drive you insane. I then add just a bit of white to give a sense of waves crashing onto the beach. ItвЂ™s a bit of a gamble doing it this way, but you can get some great, watery effects. I wonвЂ™t let it drip exactly, but I will allow it to find its way across the canvas. Sometimes IвЂ™ll use heavily pigmented acrylic paints mixed with water so it can be use like watercolour and I let the water take over. I do a lot of experimentation as I paint, but I also have some techniques that I keep going back to: 1. You can see this in my paintings Watching Boardmasters, Fistral Beach shown at the beginning of this article, and Crantock Beach below.Д®ach time I look at them, IвЂ™m transported to summer holidays-thatвЂ™s the type of вЂњspecialвЂќ feeling IвЂ™m going for. It also captures a feeling or memory of being on that beach. ItвЂ™s hard to explain exactly why a photo might feel that way, but you know it when you see it, and it makes painting the scene much more enjoyable and interesting.ДЇor example, recently IвЂ™ve started a new collection of beach paintings which verges on the abstract, but it captures the reality of what you see on a busy summerвЂ™s day on the beach.

#DRAWING OCEAN WAVES FULL#

I just like to make full use of my artistic license!ДЄs a general tip, if you paint from photos, try to choose ones that are truly special-my favorite photos are the ones where something extraordinary jumps out at me, or where thereвЂ™s something ordinary-but-meaningful, and it tugs on the heart strings. I might try to bring out more intense colours, exaggerate the waves, or change the colours to fit my current colour palette. I use what I see in front of me in order to understand what IвЂ™m painting and how the light reflects and refracts through water, but. This allows me to have the best of both worlds when painting.

but I do create a lot of paintings around the coast, so I need to be able to paint the wet stuff!ДЄs I paint, I tend to follow the principle that nothing is completely observed and nothing is completely imagined. I donвЂ™t consider myself the strongest painter of water. By Diane Griffiths in Art Tutorials > Painting Tutorials

Drawing ocean waves