Finishing Ocean Wave Oil Painting - 6th Step Is Adding Final Details

In the final stage of this oil painting of an ocean wave and a sandy beach I am putting in the final details. I have worked on the foam of the crashing wave and the foreground foam in this beach scene. Sometimes I work on other paintings and then come back and look at the first painting to see if it needs anything else. As with any landscape painting it is good to step away from a painting and then look at it with fresh eyes. I will then look for an appropriate picture frame to accent the painting.

Looking back at the previous posts of this oil painting you can see how the painting started from a simple pencil sketch to a detailed seascape oil painting. Thanks for following along and check back to see the final finished beach scene. Thanks, P.J. Cook

2nd Stage In Painting an Ocean Wave with a Sandy Beach in Oil Paint

At this stage in the seascape oil painting of an ocean wave and a sandy beach, I have completed the initial block-in of the ocean wave and the beach. Basically I have covered the canvas with paint. I am trying to follow my pencil sketch except I am using color. Below the pencil sketch shows the placement of everything in the painting and it also shows the values. The 2nd stage does not have any detail but I try to put as much of the colors in that I anticipate using in later stages of this oil painting seascape. Also I can see areas at this stage where I need to change the values. I will continue working this weekend on the beach painting so check back next week to see how it progresses.

Blue Seascape Oil Painting - final steps

My blue seascape oil painting is almost finished. I have not kept track of the total time spent on this painting because I work on other projects at the same time. But I have spent considerable time working on the detail in the water. The swirling water and foam in the bottom half of the canvas has taken the most time.

While working on the rocks in the foreground I paint cool color on the top surface that reflect from the sky along with local color. The water on the rocks also reflects the sky color. I have more detail to do on the rocks and finishing up the foreground water. It is important to step back often and look at your painting from a distance. Most paintings are viewed from several feet back not 1 foot away where the artist is working.

Seascape Painting In Oil - Step 4 of Ocean Wave Painting

 

I have painted highlights in the background waves and then continued painting the wave. The wave is painted with viridian green in the darkest area of the wave and I add white as the wave lightens.   The breaking wave is painted with white in the brightest areas. In the shadow the breaking foam is darkened with the sky color and a little alizarin crimson. 

The rocks are painted with cerulean blue and burnt sienna. The shadows on the rocks I used viridian with the burnt sienna.  For the lighter sections of the rock I add some of the white/cerulean blue mixture from the sky.

Following my photograph for reference I start to work on the swirling foam. I am using all white and some sky color mixed in for the lightest foam. Painting around the darker water patterns I try to make the foam look like it is moving. I will continue to work on the swirling foam, this will take some time to complete. I will hopefully have this part of the painting near completion for my next post. Meanwhile I will be painting!

Thanks, PJ Cook

Seascape Painting - Third Step Is Painting On the Canvas

Working from my color sketch and value sketch I started painting the composition using a #10 bristle brush. I am painting on an 18 x 24" stretched canvas. Using cerulean blue I paint the wave and rocks as seen in the first photo. I want the layout to be fairly accurate so I take time to be sure everything is correct. Using the cerulean blue I paint in the darker areas to create some value.

At this point I step back and look at the canvas to see if the compostion is pleasing. It looks good so I start painting the sky. Using the same cerulean blue with white I paint the sky. I add a little cadmium yellow light to the lightest mixture for the area closest to the horizon. Then working my way up I gradually darken the blue and white paint.

For the clouds I use the same mixture of cerulean blue and white and add a little alizarian crimson to darken the shadows of the clouds. I continue with the clouds adding white paint for the brightest areas.

I then darken the mixture using the same blue and white paint for the water. I carefully paint the horizon line with this color. I paint the rest of the water above the breaking wave adding rolling waves with different values. Paint the farthest waves closer together and as you move down the canvas paint the waves further apart. This will create perspective in the painting. That's it for now, check back for the next step in painting a seascape in oil. Thanks, PJ