Step by Step

Here is a plein air painting I did for the San Clemente show last month (“Sea Moments” 9x12). After a request from Plein Air Magazine to do a step by step sequence of my painting process, I chose this pier and wave scene while I was competing in the competition. This painting and a feature article on me will be in the fall issue of Plein Air.

When painting the ocean, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, it’s important for me to “select” a moment in time that piques my interest the most. I always enjoy the wave mid-break—you get some of the white foam along with the water lights and shadows created by the cresting wave. Once I’ve selected a spot to paint, I sit and watch many sets roll in to determine the best layout of the wave. So, here is the sequence from start to finish:

Step 1

This is the overall scene before I began, with one of the waves breaking.

Step 2

My initial sketch of the scene. A rough idea of shapes and where I want to put elements.

Step 3

A block in of the darkest part of the painting. Simplifying the underside of the pier.

Step 4

Roughed in the top part of the pier and the small structures at the end.

Step 5

Getting the correct color and value for the darkest part of the ocean and shadow of the cresting wave.

Step 6

Laying in the distant water and where it peeks through the underside of the pier.

Step 7

Finding the color notes in the white wash area of the wave.

Step 8

More work in the foam area.

Step 9

More on the foam, and adjusting the values where it goes into the slight shadow casted from the pier. Also, small color and value nuances are added into the whites.

Step 10

I had left some white canvas where the foam would appear in the foreground water. I’ve painted in those lighter areas in this step. The final details in the wave foam were completed.

Step 11

The sky was dropped in next, plus the beginnings of the small wave in the foreground.

Step 12

The wet sand of the foreground is added. I kept the color intense to give it a feeling of closeness to the viewer.

Step 13

More details were added in the small foreground wave.

Step 14

Fixed the “air holes” and adjusted the edges where the sky and water peek through the pier.

Step 15

Details on the top of the pier were painted in next. The light posts add a nice vertical to break up the sky. The underside of the pier subtleties were finished too.

Step 16

More details in the foreground wave and wet sand. The little dark shadow areas under the wave gave it more dimension.

Step 17

The last of the details were added in the water and this was the final.

Step 18

The final painting and overall scene. If you wish to view this sequence in a slide show click below. Enjoy!

Quick Draw

I apologize for the delay in posts. Been busy after my return from Italy getting things ready for the Festival of Arts in Laguna this summer, Telluride Plein Air, commission finalization, etc. (It’s good to be busy ... I think!)

This past week was the local Paint San Clemente competition and above was my winning painting from the Quick Draw that started off the week. Since they extended the duration of the quick draw to 3 hours this year, I used the extra time to get down to their local pier and set up. And the threat of rain kept the normally crowded beach parking manageable.

When faced with such a complex subject as an old wooden pier, the most important thing is simplicity. First, I try to set up at an angle where all the pier pylons appear as a mass instead of from the side where they look equally spaced. This eliminates the temptation to paint them all the same size and distance apart which is not very dynamic. Then I massed in a general pylon color for the middle to distant underside of the pier gradually moving forward in space and intensifying my colors. I pulled down dark suggestions of where I wanted the closer pylons, rather than trying to draw exactly what was there. The idea is to get a good “feeling” of the pier rather than attempting to paint in every piece of wood. After the whole pier was massed in loosely, I moved to the water and sky. I painted in a rough aqua color for the water leaving the white wash areas for later in the painting. The sky was painted next as it appears with no revisions. Now that the canvas was filled, the trick to making it look believable without being overworked is a slow building process of nuances, varying the temperature and not the value in the large masses of the water and pier underside. The only real details in the pier are the just the small edge highlights. I finished with the whitewash of the waves making sure I carried them through the pylons and keeping the shadows more purple. Lastly, I added the side support planks that nicely move your eye down the length of the pier. With some light poles and suggestions of people along the top, the painting was finished.

These old structures can be challenging, but they make a great subject if you succeed. Enjoy!