This is based on a Nic Hankins painting called Moonlight Dune. I haven’t done a Seascape in a while. I forgot how hard they are. This literally took me eight hours to do. I’m not sure why it took so long, but it did. I think because I was really trying hard to have a fairly calm ocean with very small, understated waves gently lapping on shore. But it seems like all my seascapes turn out to have great big waves. I’m sure there’s a trick to it, but I haven’t learned it yet. 16 x 20 oil on stretched canvas.
Thanks! I just wish I could figure out how to make a calmer sea with little waves.
Very nice 👏
Beautiful Brian!
Thanks, Matt and Nancy. Nancy, I think this was the one you told me about with the speckled sand. You are right, it really gives a nice "sandy" texure!
Great seascape! Nice colors!
I have an opposite problem- all my seascapes feel too calm even when I have rough sea. I don’t know how this happens. I assume it comes from internal feel about the sea that I cannot harness.
What do you generally feel about the seas?
It made me thinking. I will check this week. My thought is how smooth shore line foam is. Yours is more zigzagged. I do not recall mine and will need to scroll to check my paintings.
Yes it was! Now you know how to do that technique. Apply it where ever you feel inspired to put it on to! 😀 BTW, your waves do look smaller than what Bob/Nic would paint. They make me think about the waves we have in Florida. We can barely surf on them! Lol!!! But if you want to make them look even smaller ith less energy, check on YouTube. I am sure you will find some great tutorials.
Additional to everything already said by the others, I want to note how much I like the sand color! I sometimes really struggle to get the color of sand just right so it stands out to me how you absolutely nailed it!
Sunny, I’m not really sure what you mean by my feelings about the sea. I actually don’t live anywhere near the ocean and rarely get to see it. I don’t have the opportunity to sit and just watch and study the movement of water. But looking at pictures, I can see that water moves in all different ways and almost never in a straight line. The other thing is that Bob Ross tended to stylize his seascapes. I don’t think most real seascapes look like this. But that’s OK because art should make you happy and obviously big waves made Bob happy.
Nancy, I don’t live anywhere near the ocean so all I have to go by are reference videos and pictures. One thing I’ve noticed is that with calmer water the wave crests are not so pointy but more rounded as they approach the shore and they don’t really break until right at the beach, with a little surge of foam that runs up the sand. I don’t really know how to achieve this effect using paints. That’s the trick I’d like to learn.
Thanks, Marc. I think what makes sand look like sand is yellow ochre. Mix a little VD brown with titanium white to get a light brown color and then start adding little touches of yellow ochre until you achieve that super light yellowish brown of sand. Adding a little paint speckles that you flick with the fan brush and palette knife really seal the deal and make it look like sand. I love your paintings, by the way. You have a real gift. I too am self-taught. Hope I can work myself up to your level.
Thanks for the tipp and of course thanks a lot for the compliment! Judging from your paintings you'll get there in no time. One thing I started noticing on this site is that for most paintings people post on here there is at least one thing in it where I think to myself: "Wish I could do it like that". I like to think that most people on here feel this way.
Wonderful job on this! I love it from the sky all the way to the water and sand.
Thanks, Pam! I’m really glad you like it.
@caylacas - I don’t live by the sea either. Last time I saw the sea I stayed to observe but I could not paint it after. I had theory why all my seas look calmer than I want them to. Theory was that I always feel sleepy when in the sea and maybe this was the reason why I had my seascapes rather calm. You are the first person who mentioned about having the opposite concerns.
I did not have time yet to look at my posts to analyze what I did with the shore. But I will try to spend 10 min now.
I did some learning and get an idea what else maybe working against my paintings. Thanks a lot Caylakas for sharing your thoughts and giving another perspective!
Brian, watch “Blue Moon”,S3E2. You’ll learn how to make the waves you are looking for! 😀🌊
Thanks, Nancy. By the way, look for my next post. I borrowed an idea from your most recent post. Thanks!
Awesome! Looking forward to it! 😀
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Really beautiful! Love your seascape...the waves are so beautiful and love the water lapping on the sand!