1. As time allows, do several small warm-up studies of the color of the water and the shapes of the waves. Recall of it every bit doing stretches before a race.
  2. Adopt a "less is more" approach to painting the surface of moving water. A surprisingly few brushstrokes can show the forms and motion of the water. Excessive marks tin outcome in the painting looking static.
  3. A shut look at an expanse of h2o will reveal subtle color shifts. Decide on an overall color, simply exist prepared to modify it here and there. Let areas of slightly different colors run together to create a disarming sense of h2o.
  4. Water will reflect what is going on in the sky above it. Create continuity in the scene by using the same colors to represent both heaven and water.
  5. The sharpest contrast in your painting should be at the focal betoken, non necessarily where the sky meets the h2o, and then beware the urge to paint the horizon line razor sharp, even though it may await that fashion to you.
  6. As waves churn upwardly the h2o and stir tiny air bubbling into the foam, the water loses its tendency to reflect what is above and around it and shows more of what is mixed into it — seaweed, sand, and silt. The color of the water then changes based on the limerick of the shore. Surf and foam on a pink sandy embankment volition be a different color from surf and foam on a grayness sandy beach.
  7. The color of the h2o that we see is influenced by the angle of the sun relative to u.s.a.. These ii photos were taken at the same place at the same time of mean solar day — ane almost directly facing toward the sun, the other away from the lord's day.
Into the Sun
Away from the sun
"Sparkling, Glistening, Dancing Water" (watercolor, 12 ten 16 in.)
I get to the shore to paint when I need to milk shake the dust off, when I need inspiration for what to paint next. In this instance I came dwelling with a painting I volition be happy to frame. Often as not, however, I come up abode with a series of "failed" sketches. Regardless of the outcome, I feel invigorated by the wide open view, the fresh air, the odor of the salt, and the sound of the waves. Drawing on my plein air experiences, I tin use those sketches along with photos taken at the scene to brand a painting in my studio, no longer bound by the constraints of time and tide and weather.
"Fish Constitute Alley" (watercolor, 11 x 14 in.)
Bachelor from artist
Plein air
This is a painting about reflections and the design of lite and shadow. The bright white sides of the fish plants fabricated strong reflections in the overhead light of an August afternoon. Note how the reflections of the sunlit buildings are darker than the structures themselves. Note as well that the darkly shaded areas nether the buildings allow the states to meet into the green water beneath the surface.

"Breezing Forth" (watercolor, 15 x 22 in.)
Available from artist
Studio
We'd been racing against this boat, and even though she's usually faster, this time we were cervix and neck. It was an clouded day, and the water had a silver gleam to it, yet nosotros could see through the clear water correct nether the boat equally she heeled over (tipped sideways) under the force of the wind. I indicated the distinct shapes of the waves kicked up as the vessel sliced through the water with energetic directly brushstrokes. I simplified and flattened the surface in the altitude to push button information technology back, creating a sense of the vast expanse of ocean.

Canadian painter Poppy Balser has ever lived inside walking distance of the bounding main. Through her paintings, she aims to highlight the wild portions of Nova Scotia's coastline.

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