by Bethany | April 8, 2020

Happy Wednesday my friends!

For today’s video release, I’m sharing a painting I created last year for my Patreon students. I feel we all need some soothing and calm ocean vibes and this is a favorite painting from 2019!

My palette (below) is a mix of warm for the sand and cools for the water. I also utilize an alcohol wash underpainting in the beginning stages.

I am painting on a cut piece of Uart 500 grit paper. I have a large roll I purchased from Dakota Pastels . This allows me to cut and paint different sized pieces and is a very economical way to paint often!

**Note: Yes I realize my attached reference is not a square. At the time, my video editing software wouldn’t allow for square shapes on screen. Luckily, my current video software does! 🙂 You can view the entire here:

Click to Watch!

I have my paper (Uart grit 500) cut into a square – around 12×12. I begin with a loose sketch of the major shapes in the ocean waves.

I wanted this painting to glow! Using a complementary color underpainting helps me with this. I used a bright vivid pink for the water and cooler colors for the sand. When I layer my dry pastel on top, these hues will help the entire painting pop!

My pastel is all washed in. I like to use 91% isopropyl alcohol (surgical spirits) for this. The Uart doesn’t buckle with alcohol but can with water (especially if unmounted). If you’re unsure how your paper will react, you can always push the underpainting into the paper with a piece of pipe foam, a piece of fabric, a sponge, anything!

I’m interpreting the color more vividly than the photo tells. I had created some Plein air studies while on this same vacation and am using those studies to help me with color. The camera flattens and can completely change color temperatures. I remember this scene feeling warm and bright and vivid…so I’m choosing to paint it this way.

Starting to add my waves. We were vacationing on the Emerald Coast of Florida and the water was truly emerald green! It was absolutely breathtaking!

I loved adding the sheen of the glistening sand into this painting. Carefully looking at values helped me with this effect.

I’m slowly working detail in smaller and smaller increments. Working large shape to small shape helps me focus.

Here is the finished piece once again:

Thank you all for watching! I hope you have fun with this painting. I’ll be posting another soon! In the meantime, if you’d like to watch a year’s worth of videos plus tons of information blogs and art lessons, you can subscribe to my patreon here.

Now, go forth and paint! Let’s spread joy and light.

xoxo,

Bethany