Last week, I began a commission to paint a seascape based on my painting ‘Restless Disturbance’. The commission was to paint it larger than its present A4 state, at 70cm/100cm it would be roughly 3 times the size.
The original piece was painted en plein air, whilst sitting amongst the large rocks and pebbles gazing out to sea; with strong gales and crashing waves, it was very atmospheric. When reproducing this, I wanted to paint with the same sense of urgency, to paint the waves before they changed form and capture the briefly appearing colours in the sky before they dispersed.
The first job was stretching linen canvas over a frame with help to keep it taut at all times. This took a couple of attempts due to some creases showing the first time. After this was completed, the canvas needed priming ready to paint. For this I used three coats of gesso using a large decorators brush, applying it in differing directions each application to prevent unwanted brush strokes from appearing. Once this had dried overnight it was ready to paint.
On seeing it the following day, despite it having been evenly flat the previous day, unfortunateley, some minor creases had appeared. Luckily after a quick search on the internet, I was able to resolve this. I discovered that by damping the back of the canvas where the creases were, the canvas  re-tightened and the creases disappeared.
Now with a primed canvas I was ready to begin. Firstly, I picked a large brush and started painting the mid section of sea using a mixture of ultramarine, vermillion cadmium yellow and a hint of titanium white. These are the only colours I used for this painting as almost any colour can be mixed with this limited pallette.
The next step was to paint the more gentle waves in the foreground. Using a slightly pink undertone to reflect the colours in the sky.
As you can see, I then began to add variations of green and blue in the water to define the waves and add depth.
Following this, I made a start of painting the sky using shades of blue, purple and pink, some of these mirroring the colours in the sea. The deep purple colour at the top of the canvas was applied with a dry brush using diagonal strokes to allow for the paint underneath to show, giving a sense of translucency in the sky.
I then added the vibrant colours of the sunset, some yellow in the top left was straight from the tube while the peach colour was mixed using cadmium yellow, titanium white and a hint of vermillion. This was applied using heavy brushstrokes in some areas and scumbling in others to blend it with the blues and purples.
After completing the sky, I decided to work more on the waves, defining their shapes and formations using sweeping brush strokes and dry brush strokes to capture the frothy foam.
Still not completely happy with the waves, I did some research, to learn more about how they move to make my waves more realistic and give them more movement. I used a sponge to sweep white paint, like spray falling from the back of the waves as they tumble forwards. Using the sponge in this manner proved to be very effective. Less controlled than applying paint with a brush, it allowed for spontaneous marks and I enjoyed the anticipation that comes with not quite knowing what marks would appear as the sponge was released from the canvas.
With this commission, it was important to follow the brief and also bear in mind the difference in scale, I needed this painting to look as compelling up close as from a distance. This is why I added much more detail without compromising on the mood that was appealing in the original painting.
