Painting Seascapes
Before beginning to work in acrylics, I practiced painting seascapes in watercolor. Although acrylics are different, I found practicing in watercolor to be very useful. I developed a process that, when I switched to acrylics, I could follow. And painting with watercolor on paper is less expensive than using up canvases.
Process for Painting Seascapes
Here is a summary of my painting process. Keep reading for links to more in depth resources.
- Mix seascape colors – I mix blues, greens, and browns from ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, and cadmium red.
- Mark the horizon line. I use painter’s tape to achieve a straight horizon line.
- Paint the ocean water closest to the horizon darker and bluer.
- Paint the water in the cresting wave lighter and greener.
- Paint the shallow water near shore brown.
- Paint the sand. The sand is darkest closer to the ocean where it is wetter.
- Paint the crashing waves with white.
- Paint the foam with white and a flat brush. Horizontal lines help this area appear flat.
- Add shadows to the breaking wave.
- Paint the sky as a blue fade that is lighter closest to horizon.
Tips for Painting Acrylic Seascapes
- Study a reference photo to identify the details that will make your seascape more realistic looking.
- Clouds in the sky – I used an acrylic gel medium to thin out the paint and overlay colors for a more transparent look.
- Paint lighter areas on the ocean for the sunlight
- A dry brush can help create the spray off a crashing wave
- Use an art sponge to make the shadows in the crashing wave look more natural.
- Add a dark line beneath the edge of the foam to make the foam appear thicker.
Practice painting seascapes in watercolor with these tutorials:
I share my step by step process for painting watercolor seascapes in the following tutorials. Choose the format that works best for you:
- Printable tutorial – step by step with photos of each stage of the process
- Video lesson – 34 minute video lesson
- Live Zoom lessons – coming soon! Check here for updates.
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Painting for an entire hour proved impossible this morning, as I had things to do. But a half hour is better than nothing. As I worked, I thought about how daily work keeps you “in” a painting. You’re engaged in the project, even thinking about it when you are away from it. Being “in” a painting helps bring you back to your creativity. It’s easier to get to work – you know what to work on, perhaps you’ve even thought out how to tackle an area of the painting. But when a few days pass without revisiting your painting or project, that thread is broken. It’s harder to motivate to sit down and create, because you might not remember where you left off or possibly even what you were working on.
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