Want to have some fun painting? Find a good spot to paint your sunset. Get there about a half hour ahead of time. Bring a 16×20 canvas or smaller. Then load your palette with colors you would use in a sunset. I usually use Cobalt Blue, Cereleun Blue, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, and Titanium White.
When the sunset starts to develop, mix a few of these colors as close as you can for what you see. I use a larger filbert brush for the darker blues and then a medium for most of the other colors. Try to keep your mixtures clean and smooth and paint quite fast, paying close attention to detail.
Also, it works nice to leave the lighter cloud areas white and then paint them in after the stronger colors of the sunset. If you want to get really creative, paint the scene with a palette knife. I have a few examples of sunsets on my website: www.gwodmark.com
If you are happy with your painting, go back to the studio and paint a larger version right away. By doing this, the sunset image should still be etched in your memory.
It is very important to develop the right palette. These colors will mix together nicely and help in creating the color you want. For the blues I use ultramarine, cobalt and cerulean. Greens: I use viridian Yellows:yellow ochre, Lemon Yellow, Hansa Yellow. reds alizarin crimson, Windsor red. Browns: iron red oxide, Burnt sienna, raw sienna. I also like cadmium orange to warm things up. also like to use Titanium White for it is the strongest white.
In Painting sky, use cerulean blue at the horizon and blend this up into Cobalt Blue for the upper sky. In painting waves use a mixture of Cobalt Blue with Viridian. To see some samples of sky and water visit my website at www.gwodmark.com Please fill out the guest book if you are interested in the new training dvd’s coming soon. I will inform you as soon as they are available.
Cutter Eagle
When painting a tall ship it is important to make sure the ship is down into the water. Quite often Artists have a tendancy to place the ship on top of the water. It is also very important to have the rigging (lines to the Sails etc.) postioned right. You must also have the feeling that the sails are full of wind. This is accomplished by making sure the sails are full and the right shape. Be sure to make the wave direction right and also the wind direction. What a joy to see a tall ship painted with the wind screaming and the waves crashing. I have an some examples of tall ship paintings on my website www.gwodmark.com Pleasant painting. I will be posting tips on painting water and Sky soon. G.W. Odmark
