Experience inspiration on the waves: In this blog post you will learn more about marine painting and receive instructions to create your very personal maritime works of art.
Let yourself be inspired by the waves and colors of the sea and create a unique masterpiece.
Inspiration on the waves: Introduction to the marine painting
If you are looking for artistic inspiration, take a look at the marine painting. It is a great way to let your creativity run free and create a masterpiece.
In this article you will receive instructions on the creation of maritime paintings, with which you can artistically bring your inspiration and visual impressions of sea landscapes , coasts or ships on canvas.
First of all, you should consider what kind of maritime painting you want to create. Choose a motif that interests you and that offers you inspiration. It can be a real sea landscape that you observe in nature, or a scene developed out of your idea. The Internet also offers countless sources of inspiration.
In the following video you can see some extraordinary paintings from this genre, painted by true masters of your field:
But don't let it be intimidated. There are also many techniques and motif options for beginners in this form of painting. You don't have to be the next William Turner.
The following video shows how a quick success succeeds in maritime painting:
The motif selection
Some of the most popular motifs are sailing ships , beaches and sea animals . You can also take a look at some examples of maritime painting to get a feeling for what is possible.
Equipment and materials
After you have decided on a motif, you have to get the materials you need. To paint soul landscapes and Co. you need at least one canvas , easel , some primers , acrylic paints , brushes and some other tools such as a sponge or a sponge .
If you choose a more complicated design, you may also need special tools or painting means for special effects.
It is important to have good equipment for marine painting in order to help you realize your artistic visions. This includes a good range of colors that correspond to your ideas, a variety of brushes and a first -class canvas. It is a good idea to have a palette of warm and cool colors so that you can achieve different effects.
Various sizes of brushes are also important to achieve details. If you select a canvas, you have to remember that it is important that it is robust enough and is suitable for the texture nature to create a lively marine paint.
Once equipped, you can get to work and bring your artistic vision to life ...
Basics of the marine painting - representation of water and waves
Once you have your materials together, you can start painting. Start preparing your picture with the primer. As soon as the primer has dried, you can start painting. To do this, use the acrylic paints and brush in different layers to increase the depth and contrast of your image.
The next step is to develop an understanding of the structure of paintings that have water as an issue. To paint an impressive sea, you have to understand the wave shapes. The wave movements are diverse in nature and depending on the type of waves you want to paint, the movements you represent will vary.
A good way to understand the different wave shapes is to watch videos of waves and then look around on your own coast or on another coastal region. You can also be inspired by a photo or painting.
It is also important to be aware that the coast you paint on mostly has a lot more details than you can imagine. For this reason, it is important to take the time to perceive the different details and integrate them into their painting. Of course, you can also leave out certain details in order to achieve a certain composition. This often increases the image effect.
For example, you can perceive the different colors and shades of waves that cause the light reflections and integrate them into your painting.
By realistically presenting the details and nuances, your naval painting becomes even more lively and more impressive. Experiment you to achieve different effects and do not forget to bring your very own note.
Techniques and methods
If you want to learn the marine painting, it is important to first familiarize yourself with the various techniques. One of the most common techniques is lively watercolor painting . This technique enables you to get lively colors and details in your sea pieces.
Another technique is shading , which enables a combination of light and shadow. This technique is particularly useful to highlight the different objects in their seaface. It can also help to create depth and dimensions.
Another technique is smoothing . This enables you to create smooth surfaces that reproduce the ocean, the waves and the coastal lines.
It is also a good technique to add details and emphasize the difference between light and shadow. Also note that every technology has its own advantages and limits and there are different methods to apply every technology.
Then there is still a distinction between realistic or even photo -realistic representations and abstract paintings. Abstract techniques are easier to learn and very popular today.
With the right technique and the right inspiration, you can create unique seasid pieces that the waves of the ocean against mirrors n.
Image structure and methodology - step by step
1. Capture the gestures of the sea landscape
Gestures in art usually refer to the gesture of the human body. But imagine that the sea landscape also has a gesture that describes the general up and down of the water. Without gestures, your sea landscape painting can ultimately look more robotic and incoherent.
You can see many attempts from the classic soul landscape with breaking waves, in which the wave looks screwed with the rest of the ocean and not like an extension of it.
To capture the natural gestures of the sea landscape, consider what the water would look like if you could only paint it with a single line. This line will represent the most basic gestures of the sea landscape.
With this line you can then build up structure and shape.
2. Build the structure of the sea landscape
As with gestures, the sea landscape has a general structure that you should try. This structure can be simple or complex, depending on the type of sea landscape that you paint.
A calm sea landscape with crystal -clear water has a very simple structure. They essentially only paint a flat surface. A rough soul landscape during a storm will have a more complex structure when the water breaks and whirls up.
Try to divide the motif into geometric basic forms such as boxes, cylinders and balls. You can paint everything with these shapes, including sea landscapes.
3. Analyze how to paint reflected light
Water is inherently reflective, so that some light bounces off. This impacting light creates reflections in the water.
Depending on the silence of the water, the reflections could be a Mirrors image of the sky over it or a broken Mirrors with a broken color.
A tip for painting precise reflections is the use of darker lights and lighter darkness. So the lights are not as strong and the darkness is not as deep as the sky (or whatever is reflected).
4. Use the broken color technology
The broken color technology is perfect to capture the translucent and reflective nature of water. It also enables you to build an interesting texture for the water.
If you look closely at the sea, you will not only see a single color (even if it may look like this from afar). On a clear day you will probably see various blue, green, yellow and violet tones. During the sunset you will probably see various red, orange, yellow and violet tones.
The broken color technology includes the use of unmixed lines of different colors. These colors can be closely related (light blue and dark blue) or completely different (red and green). The colors you use naturally depend on the type of sea landscape you paint.
The breathtaking painting by Claude Monet is a great example of broken colors:
Here is a close -up of the water so that you can see the broken color better. Note how little is rendered by Monet. Without the rest of the painting, this section looks like a mix of broken color. But step back and everything fits together.
“harbor in Rouen” also an excellent example of this:
5. Soft and hard edges
You have to carefully pay attention to the types of edges that you use in your painting with sea landscapes. Here is a summary of the different edges that you can use:
- Hard edge - a very sharp transition between the two shapes.
- Soft edge - a soft transition between two shapes.
- Lost edge - a transition between two forms that is so soft that you can hardly see it.
Most edges in sea dealership images are soft or lost. Because water is not a rigid structure and there is usually a gentle transition from one water area to the next. But a few cleverly placed hard edges can have a big influence on the mostly soft and lost edges.
Here are some typical places for hard edges :
- The tip of a breaking wave.
- The horizon line that separates the sea from the sky on a clear and sunny day. A soft edge can be more suitable on a cloudy or stormy day.
- The edge that separates clear water and white foam.
- Important contours of the water, as shown in my painting below.
6. Adjust your brush guide to the nature of the sea landscape
Here is a general tip that I find particularly useful for painting sea pieces. Try to adapt your brush tour to the nature of the sea landscape.
For example, if you paint the roaring waves of the churned lake, try broken and exaggerated brush strokes.
If you paint the calm water of a morning sea landscape, use long and smooth strokes.
In this way you build a texture that fits the sea landscape that you paint. The individual lines will also reinforce the gesture and structure of the sea landscape.
Tip: Mix your brush management to give your painting a refined contrast. A quiet sea landscape can have small areas with turbulence in which you can add strong brush strokes (e.g. where the water breaks on the shore). A story soul landscape can have calm areas between the roaring waves, where you can add more subtle brush strokes:
7. Create harmony with common colors
Due to the reflected light, the water shares many common colors with the sky in the soul landscape painting. For this reason, I often jump back and forth between water and sky to ensure that common colors are used for both areas.
Suppose, I paint the highlights on the fluffy white clouds in the sky. I could take these bright colors and spread the whig on the water. I could take the light blue tones from the clear sky and use them to add a certain color variance to the water. I can take some of the dark green and blue tones out of the water and use lighter versions of these colors for the clouds.
I do a lot of these back and forth work when painting sea pieces. The end result is usually a feeling of harmony through the use of common colors. A complete tutorial with step by step instructions for painting a full sea landscape can be found in the Draw Paint Academy (unfortunately only in English).
Inspiration for maritime motifs
The sea and its residents have always inspired. The maritime motifs in mirrors n painting resonate this fascination and at the same time offer a variety of topics that give the viewer unique insights into the world of oceans and its inhabitants.
The maritime motifs in painting can be attributed to many different sources and influences. religion played an important role in the development of maritime motifs because it contains many stories about the sea and its inhabitants.
myths and legends are very popular with artists and inspiration for many of their works. Another important topic in maritime painting is shipping . Countless motifs often put seafaring or fishing in the center of the picture and thus offer the viewer an insight into life at sea.
If you would like to handle it like the master painter Montague Dawson, who grew up as the son of a ship captain (see below), then you should either look for ways to hire on a ship, to charter a sailboat or even make the boat driver's license yourself.
For this purpose, research on the Internet for recognized training centers of the German Motor Yacht Association & the Association of German Sports Boot Schools. If you are lucky enough to live near the Mecklenburg Lake District, you will find sports boat driver's license courses at the Müritz boat trip school, an training facility recognized by the German Motor Yacht Association . This training center is one of the largest providers in the field of sports boat driving license training and the courses and exams can be booked weekly.
Because where is it most beautiful and relaxed? On the deck of a sailing yacht, it is certainly one of the most exciting options and delivers exciting perspectives on sea and coastal landscapes.
After all, there are many other topics that are discussed in maritime painting. For example, natural phenomena such as storm clouds or landscapes with a sea view be discussed. Historical events also be taken as a motive for an image.
Another great way to find inspiration for marine painting is to immerse yourself in maritime culture. Visit a museum that deals with seafaring and shipbuilding (e.g. the themed world shipping of the German Museum in Munich ), go to a beach and look at the ships that drive past. Or take a look at pictures of sailing ships and other beautiful sights.
You will be surprised at how many ideas you can discover through simple research. It is also a good idea to look at the works of other artists, paint the sea landscapes to get a feeling for how to design your own maritime painting.
By considering other works, you can discover a new world full of ideas and inspiration.
"In the evening beach III" by Michael Krähmer
"Am Sea" by Gerd Bannuscher
Inspiration of 2 true masters
Ivan Aivazovsky: A collection of 729 paintings
One of the most fascinating and talented artists from the past two centuries was undoubtedly the Armenian-Russian painter Ivan Aivazovsky . Ethnically an Armenian, he was born in the city of Feodosiya, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time. Today Feodossija is a port city in Crimea Ukraine.
Montague Dawson: A collection of 211 paintings
Montague Dawson was born in London as the son of a captain. His grandfather was the successful landscape painter of Midlands, Henry Dawson (1811-1878), who himself moved to Chiswick. Montague Dawson studied at the Marinemal Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) born in Newcastle, who lived in London for a few years before moving to Falmouth.
After completing his studies, Dawson joined a commercial studio that specialized in nautical illustrations.
His works are in museums in Cambridge; Edinburgh; To find London and Newport Rhode Island.
Conclusion
It was really a great experience to try marine painting. I was surprised how much fun it was to observe and edit the details and contrasts of the various elements. It is a wonderful way to relax and at the same time pull inspiration from nature.
If you like to paint and have a soft spot for the sea, then you should definitely try painting maritime motifs. It is a nice way to learn more about the sea and to learn how to reflect the uniqueness and nature of the sea. It is a very inspiring way of painting.
With the right equipment and a few helpful tips, you can create beautiful works of art and bring your inspiration through sea, waves and water on canvas.
Owner and managing director of Kunstplaza . Publicist, editor and passionate blogger in the field of art, design and creativity since 2011. Successful conclusion in web design as part of a university degree (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expression painting and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through many years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.
