Another beach scene, this time in colour!

I thought I would follow on from my last blog and try to describe ( as best I can) how to paint a scene using colour. Lots of you have remarked on how you've enjoyed these recent paintings ( a shift from my usual work) , and I thought you might like to see the process of this latest one. 

I won't be leaving wildlife or flowers or bees! I love to paint those too, but I also like to challenge myself and paint what inspires me and at the moment these beach scenes are what I am enjoying.

Although with the rain starting to fall and the wind beginning to blow , August in Devon isn't feeling very summery!

So I begin by sketching out the scene , and adding some masking fluid where the light is touching the sea.

 

The sun is done by wetting the paper and dropping a blob of masking fluid onto the wet paper, then leave everything to dry thoroughly 

 

Now to start on the sky

 

I wanted a more interesting sky than just cerulean blue, so I wet the sky and added touches of cerulean blue, then a mixture of cobalt blue and cadmium red, for the darker shadows, under the clouds . Then some yellow ochre on the horizon line and touches in the clouds.

Then I left that to dry

 

 

Now to work on the figures.....

This always scares me as I want them to look real. For the skin tones I use yellow ochre, cadmium red and purple. Sometimes I add a blue too. 

 

 

Mix the 3 colours together in different ratios and have a practise, the skin needs highlights and shadow, just like all things, but faces can often go wrong as a small mistake becomes very noticeable.

 

Hint at features like eyes and noses, shadows will do a lot of the work for you. Add darker tones under the arms for example. Also just hint at the hair, then add a darker tone to make it believable.

I have long avoided figures, but having a go has boosted my confidence

 

 

Clothing too needs highlights and shadows, although this t-shirt is going to be red, I used the yellow as the lightest shade, then added red. 

 

 

 

Carry on working your way around the figures then leave them a while and see what may need altering or adding to later.

I also have added in the sea, thinking about the reflections and the detail in the foreground , I have used indigo, and this is the part I am more comfortable painting

 

 

Finally I added the net and the bucket, well they can't go fishing without them can they?

Now it needs finishing touches, 

 

 

Adding to some bits taking away from others, more shadows here and there. The splashes coming out of the boy's bucket, do enough to improve it, but don't go too far

Try something new, take a risk, you never know where it will end!