Sea, waves, boat and painting

Rhythm of the waves

This painting is a commission I did recently. Now I always relish the challenge of  painting water, but this one I particularly enjoyed.

A little history first, about two weeks or so before painting this I decided I’d head out for my first plein air of the year. So I loaded up my gear and headed for the local beach, parked up , prayed to the art gods the weather would hold and set about looking for a nice spot to plant my easel. Sadly this day I struck out, just couldn’t find a decent spot,  it was just too windy. So eventually I had to give in and do an about turn back to the car with my little easel, paintbox and any hope I had of a nice painting or so I thought …since i had put this time aside to paint and with that scuppered I thought to myself why not find a lovely spot to sit and watch the sea, sure why not? I was already there and it was nice just to sit back and just look.

Maybe because I didn’t have to worry about paint drying too fast or planning the composition, but I just felt like I was seeing the sea with greater depth than usual. I really looked and analysed how the waves were breaking and what were they really reflecting? Where was all this color coming from? How was the rhythm of the waves changing? How can this vast amount of water be both still and in constant movement at the same time?

The result of my morning of quiet reflection and all that staring at the water was the birth of this painting and the reason to make the sea more important than the boat. And I have to say I really am proud of this one! The moral of the story been that what at first appeared to be a disappointing and wasted morning turned out to be a revelation and inspiring morning and that some clouds really do have silver linings!!! Hope you like it too!

Kate