NEW PAINTING - Seascape - 'Port Soif, Guernsey' - Art and Painting Process Photos

Fresh off the easel!!!! I have been working on this painting for the past couple of weeks and I have just finished it today. This painting is inspired by the wild west coast of the island of Guernsey where I have been staying for the past few weeks.

When I gathered my photo reference I really captivated by the heavy swell of the sea, the bright evening light and the vibrant colours of the ocean. That night I immediately started sketching out some compositions in my sketch book.

I painted this seascape in oils. In this blog post I'll show you some of the process of how I painted this art work.

Port Soif, Guernsey, 300mm x 400mm, oil on canvas.

This is one of the reference photos I used, unfortunately they weren't the best photos as my camera lens got wet from the sea spray, but they were still good enough to work with.

This was my sketch which I referred to whilst painting this seascape.

I started my painting on a 300mm x 400mm canvas which I preprepared with a layer of burnt umber, which really helps with establishing colour and tone.

I start by blocking in the sky as this sets the tone of the whole painting, I gauge the rest of the tonality of my painting from the sky.

Next I block-in the sea, I paint the translucency of the breaking wave and I keep in mind where my light source is coming from when I paint the white water of the sea.

When blocking in the painting I'm not worried about the detail and therefore I use broad, flat bristle brushes. Once the block-in was complete I leave the painting to dry so I can then start working on the detail.

As I am building up the detail of the white water in the sea, I keep the light tones subdued, it looks white in the painting but it's not quite white, I'll save my lightest tones until the end of the painting.

I added some blue tones in the rocks in the foreground to give the illusion that the rocks are wet and glistening in the sun. I added a glaze to the rocks in the background to give the illusion of warm light emanating from behind the wave.

As I add the finishing touches to my painting, I mix pure white paint mixed with a little yellow oxide to paint some strong highlights that makes the painting come to life.