As we all know, this planet we inhabit is made up of many different elements and environments. Landscape painting is the art of capturing and portraying this world we live in. And one element covers 71% of its surface. Its hard to avoid. Wherever you are it affects every aspect of life, whether by its presence or its absence.
Water.
It can be calm and peaceful. It can be still. It can have flow and current. The tides. Waterfalls. Water in nature is a varied and living thing. In paint it can also be the same.
Every part of a landscape requires different tools. They're mental tools as opposed to the brushes and paints themselves. The first time I sat down on a beach and took out my watercolors to paint the ocean while the waves rolled in I had no idea how to start. I had mostly avoided painting water until I started going to visit with family in Virginia Beach. But even though I didn't know how to paint it when I first got there, there was no doubt in my mind that I would figure it out and I would paint it.
There's a huge difference in painting water in watercolor versus oil and an even bigger difference in painting water plein air versus photographic reference. I tend to do all my plein air work in watercolor since its easier to travel with. Unless you are going to camp out the same location for a set number of hours on multiple days with the same weather conditions, most plein air paintings tend to be a glimpse into one brief moment. My watercolor sketches of Virginia Beach and Hawaii are basically a sort of note-taking for the oil paintings the locations inspire.
I prefer painting water with oil, she said with a touch of irony. Some artists do amazing watercolors of water, not me, not so far. I just really like playing with the oils to build the layers and tones and shadows just right. There's this push and pull to get the flow right. You have to balance out the shadows, reflections, depth and movement. Even a placid lake has ripples or a smooth surface has reflections. For me, I have to just go with the feel of it when capturing water. Its not about portraying a photographic recreation of a location or moment in time, with water it really needs to feel right. I have a lot of fun painting water, for me its loose and fluid.
The ability to paint water. Its a good tool to have. Almost three quarters of the planet Earth is covered in it. Its hard to avoid. I like to get lost in the back and forth, the illusion of movement, hopefully others do the same. Get lost in the motion, the calm, the tide. Take a moment with the reflections. Water is amazing.
Comentários