It's quite a relief to get through all that mixing, so now it's on to the good stuff! First I'll sketch in the
horizon, measuring so that I get it horizontal and straight. Then I decide where the other features of my
painting are going to go and lightly sketch those in, checking each against the other for relative size
and shape.
Now, I'm going to approach this systematically so I don't get confused. I'm going to start with one area
and paint it completely from it's darkest colour to it's lightest. Then I'll paint it's adjoining area, and so
on. I'll start with the sky.
Watch here in fast motion as I put in the dark values first, making sure to always paint beyond where
that colour is needed so that the next colour will work into it smoothly, covering the canvas. Notice
how much I vary my brushstrokes, to make the painting surface more interesting.
In between brushstrokes I'm dipping my brush into my painting medium which is in a little pot on my
easel.
As I move through my paint group to the lighter and lighter values I'm using less and less
painting medium. This helps the lighter values sit better on top of the darker values and instead of just
blending into them the brushstrokes stick out a little bit from the painting surface, thereby catching the
light and helping the painting sparkle a little bit when it's finished. I'm using 'Classic' painting medium
from the Archival Range which is made by Chroma in Australia. It has a drying time of about 24 hours
which is great for outdoor painting.
Now for the clouds, putting in the big shapes that I see and then refining those. I'm always checking my
subject before I paint an area, looking up about every 5 strokes to make sure I'm getting it right,
continually refreshing the image in my head with new information. Once I've gone through the values
of the clouds see how I go back over them adding back in some of the dark and mid values which can
get muddled. I'm always looking for little nuances or interesting cloud shapes which will make it look more like a cloud and less like cotton wool. Instead of using a small brush here I'm still using a large
one, but in a creative way.
That helps to create more dynamic brushwork. Painting little smidges of
clouds here and there help to show the scale of the major clouds. Once I've gone through the values of
the clouds, see how I go back over them adding some of the dark and middle values, which can get a bit
muddled.
For the more advanced painter, I'll now add some of the beach colour into the mid values of the clouds
to help unify the painting. Everything we see is reflecting everything else we see to some degree,
depending on the reflective qualities of that object. Imagine if this cloud were made out of mirrors -
which faces of the cloud would you see reflecting the sky, and which faces would reflect the beach? At
the same time the sky and the beach are reflecting the cloud, only not as well as a mirrored surface, so
we don't notice it until we really look.
The distant hills come next, from darkest to lightest values as always. Consider here the edges of your
objects getting softer as they recede. But isn't even the horizon a crisp edge you say? Well yes it is, when
you're looking at it and your eyes are focused on it. But what happens when you're focusing on the
foreground or the middle ground? That's right, the horizon goes blurry, out of focus. So in most
paintings where the centre of interest is in the fore or mid-ground, it makes sense to make the edges of
things beyond that focus area a little softer, more so as they recede from you.
This makes the centre of
focus 'pop' just that little bit more.
Now watch here as I really push the brush into the pile of paint. That's to get a good thick covering on
the end of the brush. As I lay on my lighter values I'm being careful to put the paint on slightly thicker
than the previous layers in order to catch the light and make it sparkle. I'm still using a large brush here,
just using the very tip of it to paint these trees way down the beach.
Next comes the sea, and I'm very careful to get my horizon straight and horizontal. Then the lighter
values, and again, I'm painting beyond where I need the paint to finish, so that the next layer will push
back into it.
Finally some waves using the light colour of the clouds laid thinly with the edge of my palette knife.
Now for the dune grasses, which I add a bit of mid sky colour to as they recede down the beach. Be sure
to make the details down the beach that much smaller than those closer to you. A clumsy stroke in
these distant areas can break the illusion of depth.
Now the sand, which can be tricky because we need to make this smooth expanse of similar colour look
interesting but still retain it's realism. It's being able to see the subtleties of tone and colour which will
make this work, but it's made difficult by the glare of such a light subject. Looking directly at the bright
sand our pupils will contract, protecting our eyes but making the sand appear darker than it should do.
To combat this I'm blurring my vision and looking at the distant hills while seeing the beach with my
peripheral vision. This allows me to see the sand's true colour and value and their true relationship to
each other.
The more you peer at an area of value change the more exaggerated the change will appear to be. If
you blur your vision more in these cases it will help you to see the true relationship.
Using the back of a small brush I mark where the boardwalk will go, scraping into the wet paint. Notice
how a big brush can be used to create detail where you might expect to only use a small brush. The
colours used are those of the dune grass, adding a few lighter accents here and there. You don't have to
paint every piece of wood on this boardwalk. You're really just suggesting the shape and the pattern of
it and it's the mind of the viewer that will really fill in the blanks.
Here again I'm using the edge of the palette knife to create the very thin line of the receding beach.
Little flicks of light coloured paint suggesting the seagulls hovering on the tops of the dunes.
Now for some seaweed on the beach and to me I think this is the trickiest part of the painting getting
these clumps of seaweed to look right. Our natural tendency is to make a pattern of everything - to
make every clump of seaweed to look the same - same size, same shape, and you always have to make a
conscious effort NOT to do that. If it does start to look too patterned or regular, just scrape some of
them out - do whatever you have to do to make it look natural.
Notice that the strokes as they get
down the beach get thinner and shorter, and I've also lightened the colour to really ensure that they do
recede like they should. Just adding a slightly lighter value there on top of the seaweed, just to give it a
little bit of three dimensionality.
Notice the tyre tracks and the footprints in the sand there also have a dark side and a lighter side. This
really just helps to add a bit of three dimensionality to the sand and helps to break up the somewhat
bland sand in the foreground. Of course it's up to you whether you want to add seaweed to your beach
or not - you might prefer a more pristine beach. I just thought it added a bit more character and it
helps to lead your eye down the beach so I included it. As I said before, if one bit of seaweed is making
your beach look too patterned, too much like a rug or a quilt then just scrape it off, repaint in the sand
and away you go. Just adding in a few little sparkley shells here, and that's with the thickest paint that
you will use in the painting - it really catches the light.
Now here's an interesting part - how to paint seagulls with just a few strokes. Notice that I'm still using
quite a large brush and it's just a matter of how I tilt the brush in order to achieve the perfect shaped
brushstroke for a wing or a head. I'm only using the very little brush to do the wings and the shadows
there. Just putting on the little shadows here, and I'm just using the mid sky colour with a little bit of
red and a touch more white in it. This little brush I use here is called a rigger and it was originally used
to help with the painting of rigging in ships. This is a good place to use a mahl stick if you've got one to
support your hand.
This is kind of typical of my painting style where I start with a rush and a bang with
the big brushes and finish off quite slowly with the smaller brushes putting in the detail which really
holds the whole painting together.
Just thought it needed a few more little details in the foreground. You really can just keep tutuing and
doing this forever but someone said a great painting needs two people to paint it - one to paint it and
one to tell them when to stop. ...and that should just about do it for the foreground.
I'm just going to put a little figure in here just at the end of that boardwalk, and it's really going to help
draw the eye down the beach. I'm just measuring before I do, exactly how tall that figure needs to be to
fit in with the structure of the boardwalk. A little touch of red just adds some interest - a little bit of
sparkle. I remember hearing when I was a kid that Constable would do this, that he'd put these little
bits of red in his paintings that you sort of had to find. We had a set of table placemats which I must
have spent hours looking at trying to find the little spots of red in these prints of constables paintings.
Painting a bird in flight here, which you really need photo reference for - obviously they're not going to
stay there for you. I just wanted to show you again how I'm using a large brush to do the majority of the
work on this bird. You really don't have to resort to a small brush very often. The fact that you have to
slow down at the end of the painting like this when you're painting the details is kind of nice because it
sort of suits your energy level. You've been painting for a few hours now so it's good to slow down, but
the key is to be able to maintain the degree of focus that you started out with, so your finishing detail
which holds the painting together doesn't lose any integrity.
Now sign it, and you're done! Congratulations on a finished painting!
Get this Ruakaka Beach Lesson
How to arrange a strong composition.
When to use your artistic licence.
3 advanced seeing techniques.
Reflected light theory & application.
Why clouds are never just white.
How to mix value & colour families.
How to apply creative brushwork.
How to paint a seagull with only 4 brushstrokes!
1 unique palette knife technique.
How to use a large brush for easy detail.
How to paint convincing details in sand.
and HEAPS more - all in 30 minutes.
Running Time:30 minutes Level:Beginner to Advanced Includes:Lesson Notes (8 page pdf document)
with lesson transcript, resource photos, photo
of the finished painting, colour wheel and cutout
value scale tool. File Size: 184mb (5 mins to download - requires broadband)
"...I think the video is terrific. I would compare it to an in-depth article in a magazine or the chapter of a book in the way it feels to take in the information and the condensation of material. Obviously, because there's so much in the episode, I'll view it again and again because I'm sure I'll pick up new things each time.
I'd also add that I'm a very experienced painter, and there was actually some new stuff here for me, especially about how to view a scene (not looking into shadows and light, etc.).
The pdf is also very helpful and really adds value to the package as a reference tool. Oh, and by the way, I liked the finished painting a lot. It really captures the feeling and spirit of the place. Anyway, I'll look forward to more.
All the best, Tom" U.S. More Painting Lesson Comments >
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