After a while to let the cloud layers dry, I started to work on the underlying layers of the ocean. I wanted the hues to be vibrant to match the illumination of the sky above. I'm using Winsor & Newton Griffin Fast Drying Alkyd paints throughout this painting process.
Sky is finished...now onto the ocean!
I taped off the horizon line and started to paint the horizon and then the gradients that will be for the ocean and foreground waves. I wanted my ocean to be vivid as well to compliment the bright blue sky, so I'm using combinations of Cobalt Blue, Ivory Black, White and Cerulean Blue hues. I'm using Tamiya tape specifically as I use it when I build scale model aircraft and it doesn't leave a gummy residue and it is very fine tape.
After some time, after the horizon line is still wet, but not perfectly dry, I remove the Tamiya tape and I have a perfectly level horizon line from which to separate the sky from the ocean. I don't want to wait until the paint is too dry or else, I may pull up some of the horizon I just painted.
My palette is constantly changing with colors. As I paint the hues of the ocean from a deep blue to an aqua green, I'm continually mixing paint to go lighter and lighter as the backdrop, that is the underlying color of the ocean becomes shallower up to the beach.
Painting color so as to indicate shallower waters towards the shoreline.
Finally, for the gradient of the sea to the shoreline, I begin to paint the basic colors of the
shoreline. For this, I'm using mixtures of burnt umber, cerulean blue, white and a touch of sap green and yellow.
Completed underlying color of the ocean before painting the waves. It looks very vibrant now, almost surreal, however this color only illumines the waves that I will paint over this area.
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