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In response to a few questions about painting water, and particularly crashing surf and big waves, I'm going to make a plea. It's not open to all of us to get out there and observe nature at work, but when we can, we really should! If you want to paint big water, you really need to understand the way it moves and why. You could study the physics for a long time, but the best way, I think, is to watch the water at work.  The point I'm making here is not how to paint water, but to get out there and watch it. As it 'heaves' up in one place, it pulls back from another, but there are always lines you can see relating to the overall pattern, they move all the time, but here, in this quick study I did for an art group class of the rocks off the caravan site at Findochty, you can see a single line of wave running from the top of the foreground rocks at left to the top of the foreground rocks on the right. This single line, unnoticed unless you're looking, holds the water together. In front of it, the water is swelling and pouring over the close rocks. Behind, the water has been sucked away ready for the big wave that's currently breaking behind it. Using these simple thoughts about the water's movements, we as artists can express our thoughts on the movement of the waves while avoiding that broken effect that makes them look artificial. So, if you can, get out there and watch the water, making big lines on a sketch pad as you see the big lines form. Then go and paint!!
2 Comments
19/9/2018 03:42:41 am
This reminds of the importance of empathy. Empathy means putting yourself in one's shoes. I am not sure if they are really related but this is what I really felt. Observing how the water works in order to understand it better is like putting yourself in other's situation whenever they feel troubled. By doing this, you will be able to fully understand what they feel on that situation. There are lots of things to do for us to be able to understand what the others feel or think but the important thing should be the reason why we do it. We need to make sure that we do it because we want to help them. 20/9/2018 07:50:15 am
Watching the waves crash into each other is one of the things I like to do when I need to relax. There is something in the ocean that calms me whenever I feel like I am about to explode from frustrations. When I was younger, my father would always take me to the beach. We would spend the whole day just playing in the sand and building sand castles. I would bury my dad in the sand and we would laugh so hard whenever the waves would crash into his face. I guess that is the main reason why I find oceans peaceful - it reminds me of my late father. Leave a Reply. |
AuthorA professional artist living and working in the beautiful north of Scotland. My work is realistic and quite traditional, though strongly interpretational in nature. My inspiration is the beauty of Nature, and the wonderful colours and moods she shows everywhere. Archives
February 2021
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