work in progress, seascapes stage 3

work in progress. 40 inch square canvas. Wild Seas. Vivien Blackburn

The beach is a typical Cornish cove - funnel shaped - so the waves come racing in and clash from different directions, bounced off the rocks, as they are forced into an ever narrowing route. I love the chaos and tumult. The sand is carved into hollows and ridges and patterns as the tide moves.

I don't know how well I'm going to be able to catch this but it's what I'm trying to catch.

My Monday class doesn't start up for a couple of weeks so I managed another day of working on the canvasses :) I'm now at the stage where there is a lot of thinking time or waiting for paint to dry and progress slows.

30 inch canvas work in progress stage 3 - seascapes Vivien Blackburn

This one is the most resolved so far. A quieter day, looking diagonally across the beach when the tide is out. The evening clouds a soft apricot. I still have work to do on it though.

30 inch canvas work in progress seascape. Vivien Blackburn

The sky is still in a very rough state and I think I need to go into oils to resolve it. The wet of the sand and the reflections is coming along. The sand is too warmly coloured but this will cool down with the stage of painting. I needed to get those pinks in - wet sand often shines with gorgeous pinks and mauves.

I think that I need to go into oil paint with all of them now - but I'm not going to be able to do any painting tomorrow due to long working hours - I'm covering for a colleague who is off on a course in addition to my normal classes :(

I enjoy using acrylics in these early stages but always feel the need for my oil paints as the painting develops - I can get more subtle changes of colour in the clouds and softer edges, glaze oil paint over existing colours in thin thin veils to adjust them a little and scratch through thicker oils to reveal the acrylic colour below and it remains changeable for longer.


to be continued :) ...........................

.