MATERIALS
• Arches Oil Paper
• No. 4 Medium
• Palette knife
• Light oil stick
• Paints: – Cerulean Blue – Ultramarine Blue – Sapphire – Titanium White – Viridian – Burnt Umber – Alizarin Crimson
STEP ONE
The first thing I do when I enter my studio is put on a CD. Music helps to create the ambience and sets the mood.
Working roughly and spontaneously, I sketched my image with Cerulean Blue. I began with the clouds, as they are the dominant feature. The dark areas (Ultramarine and a touch of Alizarin) made a beautiful dark, followed by light areas (White with a touch Cerulean), and then mid tones (Sapphire, Viridian and White). With a light touch and constantly cleaning your brush, run all areas together carefully while holding on to the very dark and very light parts of the image.
STEP TWO
I moved onto the next section of the image, so that there is a clear difference with the meeting of sky and sea. I changed the rhythm on the left hand side using Sapphire plus linear strokes of Viridian.
STEP THREE
At this stage, I added some glazing into the clouds using a mixture of Ultramarine and Alizarin watered down with No.4 medium, plus I worked on darkening the foreground clouds.
At the bottom section of the image, I decided to work on the sea floor. The treatment is completely different as it is a more weighted and textural part of the image. I worked extremely loosely with my palette knife using Cerulean, Ultramarine, Sapphire, Alizarin, Viridian, and Burnt Umber. Perspective was created by using a heavier and darker textural surface in the foreground and leading into lighter tones halfway towards the cloud image of the painting. This was to create the faded ocean floor.
STEP FOUR
So that I could work wet into dry, I waited for three days. Because I wanted to limit my colours and also create a water sky image as one influencing the other, it was definitely the tricky part of the image.
For this stage, I started at the bottom and worked with Cerulean Blue over the top of the image already created until I created the impression of a faded ocean floor and to show a depth of the sea. I then continued with a smooth motion across the work until all areas were joined. I then added more glazing where I felt it was needed.
FINAL STEP
For the finishing touches and to create more depth in the sea, I placed linear white squiggly lines and then shades using a light oil stick, plus glazes of Cerulean and Sapphire Blue.
ARTIST’S HINTS AND TIPS
• Enjoy the journey
• Feel whatever you observe
• Forget about the mighty dollar, enjoy your creation.
