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PAINTING A MARINE WATERCOLOUR/WATERCOLOR PAINTING - STEP-BY-STEP DEMONSTRATION
Below is a step-by-step painting demonstration of a marine painting in watercolour/watercolor.
St Ives, Cornwall
9" x 13" © Alistair Butt
I first did a detailed drawing onto Bockingford 250lb watercolour/ watercolor paper which had been previously stretched.
The first wash was to establish the sky. The overcast sky was painted onto wet paper (clean water) using washes of grey's (mixing blues and red browns) to create the clouds. As this was drying I painted in the underlying colours/colors for the buildings and boats being careful that no run back happened.
Then next stage is to paint the background buildings and harbour/harbor wall. This started with a light grey mixed in places with either more blue or brown over most of the building or harbour/harbor wall area leaving areas of highlight (e.g. the top edge of harbour/harbor wall).
Next followed the painting of the roofs of each building, then adding details like the windows/chimneys etc before moving down to paint the wall using three washes (light to dark) to created the texture and stone pattern. The final part for this stage was a light blue/grey shadow wash (even though the sky was overcast the light/shade difference needs to be established) covering all the buildings/wall apart from the highlight areas.
This stage involves painting the area of dry sand and distant boats. The sand was two or three washes followed by adding some detail (previous high tide line), chains etc.
The boats were painted using mixes of the correct colour/color and tone (sometimes more that one wash) to create the shape. Again a light blue/grey (for shadow) wash covered all the sand/boats apart from highlight areas.
The middle distant boats were painted using a series of washes. Anything from one to five washes to create the shape and colour/color of each boat. I usually work on one at a time doing inside - cabin etc (if seen) then the hull. More detail was added to these boats than those painted in the previous stage.
Again a shadow wash of light blue/grey covered these boats apart from highlight areas, this colour/color was also painted all over the area of wet sand/shallow water in the foreground and would become the highlights on the water for the next stage.
To save time while painting the water, reflections and wet sand I masked all the highlights using Winsor & Newton Colourless/Colorless Masking Fluid.
A series of light to dark washes of the correct colour/color for the reflections were then painted followed by the areas of sand above the water and then adding the details (ropes, buoys, gulls etc). The masking fluid was the removed before another blue/grey wash was applied to the whole area.
The last part to paint was the foreground boat. Like the other boats this one was painted using a series of washes (light to dark) to create the shape or colour/color of each section of the boat, I starting with the inside, then worked on the hull. While the correct colour/color was on the brush the reflection was also painted plus adding details like the chains seen through the water.
The level of detail on this boat was increased e.g. ropes, names etc. Like the other stages for this painting a blue/grey wash over the foreground boat completed the stage and the painting.
