TM8472 Where Words Slip Away 30×48 oil on panel

The grays continue with this view of a departing storm. This is another in the series of new coastal paintings that I am approaching from a monoprint perspective. The waves rolling in and partially exposed beach offered opportunities to play with a texture of droplets. I tried to let the “means” of the painting remain exposed, so that the process could be read backwards.  I also hoped that with a watery subject, the droplets and slippery wet paint would help to suggest the actual feel of the wet environment. Detail below. Enjoy!

TM8472 Where Words Slip Away – detail of breaking wave

Technical painting notes: It began with a dark, warm green roll-up with some burnt siennas near the bottom, which were manipulated with plastic wrap and a mixture of stand oil and mineral spirits. I carefully, but thinly brushed color up to the horizon using medium and a bristle brush. I did a lot of splashing onto the beach and where the breaking wave would be, using a small nylon watercolor brush tapped against a paint mixing stick from the paint store. After the initial layer was dry, I worked up the sky in a traditional manner with thin paint and some glazes. While the sky colors were wet, I worked down into the water using thin layers of the sky grays, adding a bit of color as I went along. The beach received layers of milky glaze to tone down the reds and values. Once dry, I used a bristle chip brush loaded with a Liquin-rich white paint to indicated the gestures of the waves and hints of the water patterns behind the waves. Again, I let this layer dry then worked up the water using traditional direct painting techniques and  glazes. Some final glazes to the clouds and water balanced  the color harmonies.

Note to beginning painters: Mixing greens is fun – keep in mind that you can achieve a rich range of tones using reddish pigments and greenish blues (Prussian blue and iron oxide, phthalocyanine blue and burnt sienna, cerulean blue and red oxide).