A Seascape in Progress **UPDATED**

As mentioned in my previous post, after a few busy months I'm making some time to get back to being creative and producing some new pieces. Sadly the day job still takes up most of my time, as it does with everyone.

When I normally start a painting I will sit down and try to finish it in a relatively short space of time (which probably explains a few things about my paintings!), perhaps over the course of a day or two, however on weekdays this just isn't a possibility. So, with the painting I started yesterday, I have decided to dedicate this particular blog post to showing the progression of the painting from start to finish. This is a slightly daunting prospect for me, as I like to be sure that anything I post is of a good enough quality and that I'm happy with it being showcased but with this there is no guarantee. In doing this I am leaving my comfort zone in an attempt to document the process and perhaps see where I can improve my methods in future, as well as give me the inclination to sit down and work when there are other distractions to hand.

So without further ado:

Day 1 - 15/07/12 - 1 hour 30 minutes:

Although this doesn't look like much for the amount of time it took, ths includes choosing base colours and making decisions about tools to use, in this case I ended up using a palette knife to add a thick layer of paint on to the canvas and mix the colours slightly. I also managed to avoid using any water, which is an age-old bad habit of mine that I really am trying to break. We'll see if I can stick to this later on when it becomes more detailed.

Day 2 - 16/07/12 - 45 minutes:

Tonight I've added in some more base colour to the middle of the canvas only, trying to create an impression of depth to the image, and to give myself more to work with later on when detail is added.

Day 3 - 18/07/12 - 1 hour 30 minutes

I'm not sure quite how it's happened but from starting with the intention to paint a nice Caribbean-like seascape I've instead depicted a rather more stormy coastal view that is altogether British-like. Perhaps this is due to being more familiar with these sort of scenes, but when I realised what I'd done I was quite surprised.

Other events of note:

- I added in some gloss to the acrylic paint - must say I'm a fan
and not sure how I've gone so long without using it. It will be
a permanent feature of any future work.

- who knew you could slice your finger open* with a blunt palette knife?
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Day 4 - 21/07/12 - 2 hours

It all started so well... and then became disasterous.

The problem with working on a painting in dribs and drabs is that everytime you re-start you have to get back into 'the zone' where you are comfortable with the paint and know exactly how to work it to create the effect you're after. It doesn't always happen but today is just one of those times - after about an hour of work the canvas looked like this:

It doesn't actually look that terrible in the photo, but the waves were just too defined, which made them stand out horribly against the rest of the image. After a quick rescue attempt, I've had some success, but there's still a fair way to go in order to get those waves looking right!

Day 5 - 22/07/12 - 1 hour 30 minutes (so far...)

I'm still working on the painting, but whilst the paint dries here is a quick update on where it's at:

Still working on those pesky waves at the front - I've come to the conclusion that they look much better the further away you are, but that isn't quite going to cut it...

an hour later...


This is potentially the last update for this post** as I can't quite decide what to do to improve this painting (which is not to say I am happy with it). I think I'll have a think about it and come back to it in a day or two, but for now this is a finished piece. Overall it has taken me nearly 8 and a half hours, which is super fast in comparison to the time it takes to create my prints and drawings. So for now, enjoy!

Event of note:

- It is a really nice evening tonight, it's been a while since the stars have been visible - wish I had more time to sit outside than the 10 minutes I have to spare, but still very relaxing.


**UPDATE**

Day 6 - 25/07/12 - 30 minutes

So after a few days of thought and a lot of looking, I started work on the painting again - and what a difference a few exra splodges of paint make.

An after a few more added splodges:

I'm much happier with this now and may actually have finally finished!

Total time taken = 9 hours


Caroline

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*perhaps this is a little bit of an exaggeration, but it's still no paper cut!

** I suspect that I'll be back editing this painting soon enough!