Over the last few months I have been working on a lovely private commission project.
This is quite a large painting of a particular view in South Pembrokeshire. It's a place of great meaning and fond childhood memories for the client and it's been something of a challenge for me because of its size and the specific nature of the brief.
The request was also for colourful but atmospheric, with wild energetic waves against the sea wall. So, stormy but NOT dark and moody!
I started on location with some sketches and a few photos.
The photos were not particularly helpful though as the day we visited was grey, overcast and the tide was out! I used them really for the accuracy of the landmarks and then made studies on paper to 'invent' the waves and sea foam.
Below you'll see the journey over a period of a couple of months. As you'll see there are multiple layers to this oil painting and each layer needs a few days at least to dry before continuing to work over it...
The first job was preparing the large canvas with several coats of Gesso (a special type of primer for oil paintings). The canvas itself is 100 cm x 100 cm.
Next came a wash of Indian yellow which give a warm vibrant yet transparent glow to the whole surface.
Then a pencil drawing of the main landmarks which needed to be accurately proportioned, before blocking in with paint to map out the structure.
Once the basic composition was all mapped out then I could start applying the base layers of colour. At this stage I am not focused on details just the big block shapes.
With base layers dry, I could start modelling the forms of the sky, headland, waves and rocks. Then the first layers of wave patterns, more detail to the rocks and sea wall.
The foreground rocks WILL be covered with the sea washing over them but I had to paint these in first so I can layer the water OVER them later. This requires me to have a plan in my head for what will follow, however it's not a rigid plan because all of the sea is creative invention, (I have no reference photo of this) so to some extent I have to just 'go with the flow'!
To be continued!....
Since this last photo the painting has changed a lot, with more and more layers of detail. It is now almost finished, but I'll save the progress photos of the last few stages until next time... ...because of course, the client needs to see it FIRST!
Please get in touch if you are interested in commissioning a painting.
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