Monday, April 10, 2017

How to make a Seascape Painting


This is considered a seascape according to the type of painting it is.  However, this is actually a lake painting. It is a painting of a lake in North Alabama called "Cedar Lake".  I was inspired to paint this painting from a photo sent by email to me from a friend who fish on this lake.  It is a very beautiful place.  As you can see it was taken at sunset.  I altered the painting from the original photo reference to have a reflection of sunlight that is more exaggerated.  I wanted to capture the ripples of the waves in the lake and used the sunlight as a point of emphasis or focal point in the composition.  Also it is a painting in an abstract color scheme from reality.





I started with a value sketch from my sketch journal.  I only used 5 values of gray to accomplish the sketch. I used a mechanical no.2 pencil in graphite.





Next, I toned the paper with a brown or burnt sienna color.  I diluted color or paint with water to achieve a lighter value and used less water in the color to get darker values. I used a large flat brush to tone the surface evenly all over to get the lightest value.  Then I used a smaller flat to draw and block in the darker values.





I used the color green blue yellow and white to premix the colors.  I use a glass palette because it cleans better when I finish painting sessions.  I use a rounded end metal palette knife to mix the hues or original colors. I add blue to darken the greens and I use white to tint or lighten the colors.





Here is the finished painting very small in size 4x4 done in acrylic of Cedar Lake

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