Painting the seaside...bit by bit....

Painting the seaside in acrylics

I have had several people asking me questions about my painting methods lately.
 Now, I'm not very good at explaining things and this is NOT a "How to do it" but rather a "How I do it" .
I thought that as I paint I could post odd bits and pieces along the way that may inspire/help someone and I'm happy to answer any questions.
Alternatively I could just waffle on...and on...and on........ 
Starting with the sea....
undiluted, System 3 acrylics. Small splodgy strokes ( no confusing art jargon here ! ) Wet on wet.
Needs to dry at least overnight before highlights can be added.

Painting in the sea...

 Pebbles...
hundreds of blobs of paint gradually increasing in size towards the foreground. When completely dry very watery washes of white highlight the sunniest areas and very watery washes of burnt sienna give depth to to the uneven surface of the beach. These are also the colours used for the deckchair frames.

Painting in the pebbles on the beach

Blanket,( and most fabrics). Lightly pencil in where the creases and folds go. Paint in the pattern. Highlight with white and add shade with a watery mix of Prussian blue + Paynes grey
 I've now completed 11 hours of painting (excluding sketching out the composition) Whilst waiting for paint to dry I have started work on other areas. The deckchair frames take the longest. They are a variety of shades/tones and need about 4-5 layers of paint...and a steady hand. I shall work on these a bit at a time.

Painting the fabrics 

 Deckchairs ....
This time just 2 coats of paint were adequate to give an even opaque base of blue (often 4-5 are required). When dry I covered the area with an extremely thin wash of white..then dabbed it off with a clean cloth . This barely shows but it helps to give a bit of texture to the fabric.

Painting the deckchair seats

 Storing surplus paint in small airtight pots will keep it usable for 2-3 weeks .

Prussian blue is used to start adding the shade on the blue areas and the fabric seam lines

Adding the fabric detail

  Most of the painting is created with very small brushes . 
Yep....takes a while with these!

Painting in progress

Starting to add some shadows and highlights whilst building up a few more layers on the deckchair frames. Work has also begun on the smaller objects. 

Adding the shadows and shading




Finally, after a long painting session and lots of cups of coffee, the composition is complete ...

"Gone Swimming"
Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"

"Gone Swimming" Acrylic seaside painting

I hope you have  enjoyed the step by step trip to the seaside and found out something useful along the way 
The sun is now shining so I'm off for an ice cream