Richard Robinson, Tropical Water Small Wave, acrylic on canvas
The ocean is often a subject of fascination for painters because of its inherent beauty and its ability to evoke a range of emotions from awe to tranquility, fear to love. The ever-changing patterns and movements of the ocean and its waves provide endless opportunities for artistic expression, making it an appealing subject for every artist.
Richard Robinson, Green Wave, acrylic on canvas
Richard Robinson, Sunrise Wave, acrylic on canvas
Richard Robinson, Ocean Storm, acrylic on linen
Student Critiques
Darla Calhoon-Rice Darla Calhoon-Rice
Sea foam Great work, Darla. Your color transitions are great. You can really see the thickness of the water in the wave due to your careful work along its edge. The small wave is working exceedingly well. I’d just like to see you take a longer look at the foam patterns on the flat water. The color is fine but the shapes need work. Tricky wee things!
Sharon Pearce Crashing WavesSharon Pearce Crashing Waves
Ooo nice work, Sharon. Great sense of movement with interesting brushwork (a good combo of large and small marks). Just two things to look at: make the transition more gradual from dark to light, bottom to top within a wave. Also the foam patterns within the wave need to be slightly darker because they’re in the shade. Those two changes will add more depth to the wave.
Isabel GibsonIsabel Gibson
Waves Great job, Isabel. Colors, brushwork and shapes are all good. I would just add a few incoming swells in the background with a slightly darker blue/green to finish this off.
Elena SokolovaElena Sokolova
Sunrise wave, acrylic with oil glazing on canvas, 15¾ x 23½" (40 x 60 cm) Some nice light effects in here, Elena, with a strong warm/cool contrast and interesting fluid brushwork. I think this could be improved by taking more care with a finer brush in the foam patterns on the wave face and also revisiting the mountain, which seems too pink for the color of the light. It would be more convincing were it more orange. I’ve also found that, with acrylics, painting a large warm gradient first across the whole sky, letting it dry and then working those same colors over the top will avoid that scratchy look you can see in the thin pink paint there where the white of the canvas starts to show through the thin paint. Overall, very nice though.
Nancy NewtonNancy Newton
Ocean Storm, acrylic and oil Nice work, Nancy! Getting those swishy wave shapes looking good, large and small. Interesting how it also resembles a mountain range too, eh? I’d just like to see a little more green in the tips of the foreground waves so it’s not so black, and smooth out that dark to light transition from base to crest in the central main waves. Looks great!
The ocean is such an alluring subject for painters, but to paint it well there’s a lot to know—not just the concepts but also the techniques. That’s what you’ll learn here, in spades. You can spend years tracking down all this knowledge or take the fast track and learn it all in one place. With this detailed, guided course you can learn to paint beautiful waves, fast.
You’ll learn about:
- The four-step process to painting any wave.
- Specific brush techniques for beautiful effects.
- How to design a successful wave painting.
- How to invent rocks and place them properly.
- Create color schemes that just work, and much more.