To all painters, white is an important part of the palette, but to the marine painter, white and its usage is so important that at times it almost becomes a medium. So working knowledge of the properties of the three basic white paints on the market today will help you to determine your procedure and to realize your final effects, whether it be direct painting, building the painting in successive layers, underpainting and overpainting, glazes or scumbling.
I hope that you will gather from these pages that I dislike very much falling into a system of using over and over again a procedure or a set palette. With your painting materials always the same, each picture will tend to appear just like the preceding one, with only a rearrangement of subject matter. If the materials you use are sound and compatible, and each lends itself to the realization of the desired final effect, then you have selected and used them for their best qualities. Read the rest of this entry »
The painting of nature is the painting of change and movement, and the artist should always be on the alert to study cause and effect. Color has movement. Relative to the painting of the ocean, it is pure abstract. Perhaps this is best revealed by dipping a bucket of water from any part of the open ocean; it has no color, but is transparent. From the outset you must come to understand that the ocean is a great liquid mirror reflecting to the artist things that play across its surface. At times the mirror breaks, allowing you to peer into the great light-absorbing depths of the ocean. Other times, it lets light strike the bottom and reflect to the surface.