Seascape – Surfers at Biarritz

Materials list

  • Paper: Saunders Waterford High White NOT 300lb Watercolour Paper, masking fluid or white acrylic ink, yellow oil pastel or wax crayon for texture.
  • Paints: Windsor & Newton. Raw Sienna, Light Red, Cobalt Turquoise Light, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Violet, Prussian Blue,  Winsor Violet, Indigo, Winsor Yellow.

The beautiful French Coastline of Biarritz was the inspiration behind this landscape painting.

Composition

To create the vast expanse of sea and trees, a long narrow sheet of watercolour paper works very well. Establish a foreground, middle ground and a background.

Lightly draw the coastline, then mask the white surf and the top of the hedge in the foreground where the light is catching the leaves. (Use a ruling pen or fine brush for accuracy). For added texture in the trees/ foliage use a little yellow oil pastel or wax crayon.

Paint

Sea washes – Mix raw sienna with a little light red for the sandy area and merge this with cobalt turquoise light and cobalt blue for the surrounding sea area. For deeper darker blues, drop in ultramarine violet and Prussian blue. A tip is to keep moving the paper so the washes flow into each other creating movement. Another layer of washes can be applied when dry if you feel your colour is not strong enough.

Waves – underneath the breaking wave, paint a broken line of ultramarine violet. For the other two waves, paint in the darks along the top of the wave and then softly fade the colour away. To indicate the movement of the sea, paint small wave patterns with a slightly deeper shade of blue. When dry paint in the surfers with a strong mix of indigo and violet.

Rocks – Paint the shapes of the rocks in a mix of Winsor violet and Light red. Whilst still wet, take off some of the colour with a tissue where the light is falling on the top of the rocks.

Foliage/ Trees – Mix various shades of green. For the trees on the far left and far right use Winsor yellow mixed with a little Prussian blue, drop in Ultramarine violet near the base of the trees and along the hedge. For the taller darker green trees , paint in the same colours as above but add more Prussian blue and a little indigo. Don’t be afraid to let the colours blend together on the paper. Paint over the yellow oil pastel.

Remove the masking fluid when totally dry. If you prefer not to use masking fluid, you can use acrylic white ink for the white surf.

Enjoy painting.

Chris Lockwood

www.chrislockwoodwatercolours.co.uk