ABOUT THE PROCESS
This oil painting has many revisions at each step. I explain why I make these choices. This is true to my creative process and I find this yields the best work. This video is condensed to show the idea of creation and not a step-by-step because you would be painting out a lot. Thus this videos shows MY CHOICES (The video is shortened from 10+ hours to half an hour.) You shoud make your own choices, and often this can be hard work and feel scary at first (like failure, but it's not!). If you need to review the basic process to make art, there are loads of videos in my program that show a linear process (step 1-100) to make a painting. However, once you learn the basics, then the job is to make GOOD art. The art needs to live up to your expectations, with repainting and revisions. This learning never ends - and that's a good thing because it's journey. I hope you enjoy this video. (I'm still working on this after filming the video! )
DON'T COPY - INTERPRET!
Ocean paintings lend themselves to a flow of creation / destruction / creation... much like the shore and waves there is always motion and change BUT WITHIN TIGHT BOUNDARIES such as shoreline, light effects, gravity and wave structure, etc. By having the tight constraints of value, horizon and minimal shapes (no trees, road, etc) I feel free to invent shapes, edges and smush the paint around! An important part of being an artist is to trust one's intuition and try visual ideas out. If something is not working do not fear the artwork... instead use this as a way to play with the paint. Once you enter into the playtime zone a lot of anxiety about 'failed' art goes away. Ocean art can be the key to exiting the 'copy' mindset and enter into a wonderful world of imagination and creative flow.
1: Know your 'tight' parameters or MAIN IDEA such as time of day, light source, and mood (review the Concepts video to gather reference and make studies, or jot down an idea list of words to stay on track).
2: Start how you like intuitive or not. For example, I like a fluid and loose start, however, some artists like the structure of grids or more value control to begin a painting. There is no right way, just try different starts to find which works best for you.
3: Be prepared to change elements as needed. I find a watery and thin preliminary layer to be useful. I did this with WATER MIXABLE OILS. I try to get my value and color relationships to be good, but I don't worry if things get blotchy or there is paint stain in areas, as this will all be painted over soon with the next step...
4: Block out enough time to start 'full' color. Mix piles of similar values in different tints of gray (get your value scale out). Do not thin paint with medium or oil, it should be straight from the tube and you will use a lot. Freeze any extra after your are done with your FULL COVERAGE DAY. This full paint will be workable for about 2 days and will give you plenty of time to play with edges and shapes. If you don't have a large block of time to create, do your big paint piles one day and the application the next day. A painting put in an unheated garage will be chilled in the winter and this will stop the oxidation and drying of your paint... thus you can keep your paint wet and easy to manipulate between sessions!
5: Embrace GRAY AND VALUE. The larger the space you will cover (such as blue sky) the more grayed out your color should be ... avoid saturated color in large doses as this can make a beach painting feel shrill and garish. Grayer is better when in doubt. You will be shocked at how gray you can go, yet when the paint is all on it will look harmonious. This is why DIRTY BRUSHES and mingled color is okay during beach art creation.... this will continue to gray your color. When I merge out the clouds for example, see how the gray migrates into the sky and it looks great. Also the horizon continues to be a 'mush' of all color. No clean brushes were used in the painting with the exception of the new brush I used for the puffy white clouds. This brush rapidly gets 'dirty' as I pet the wet sky and the blue and gray migrates into the light clouds.
6: Repeat! Beach paintings are great to do in a series. On location at Cape Ann I loved making multiple paintings at one location. It was fantastic! Try this with the same colors, same reference, and same brushes. Also try the same size. Learn about your process and have fun tweaking different items. I'm sure you will learn a lot just by repeating the exercise. I know I did, this is why I tried the REPEAT idea in the studio... to mimic that good feeling I had on location.