Learn How To Paint a Seascape and understand how to look at the whole scene and then break it down into small parts of color and space. Warm colors against cool colors and dark against light. You do not have to paint every bit of foam on the sea. If you do, why not use a camera to capture it?

Always choose a scene that stirs your emotions. Don’t paint a scene that lacks any excitement. When you get excited about a scene, it is amazing how beautiful the finished painting becomes.

So how do you start the seascape painting?

1) Your Subject. First, a “field of view” has to be chosen to paint a Seascape. This means that you have to restrict your view to the scenery you want to paint and exclude the rest. A good way to use a view finder is by cutting a 3″x 1″ opening in a piece of cardboard and holding this at arms length explore the seascape scene you want to paint.

2) Lines. When you begin your painting the first line is that of the horizon. Place the line of the horizon at three fourth a distance from the top. Loosely define the lines to bring out the basic contour of the Foam or Spray in your Seascape Painting.

3) Backdrops. Paint large areas of colors such as, the sky and the land, in your Seascape. These elements define the sea and bring out the contrast. One important point to be taken care of is that the sky is more or less of the same hue as that of the sea. The land that brackets the sea in a seascape painting generally contrasts with the color of the sea.

4) Foam. The foam wave spray of the sea is the defining part of a seascape painting. The most common mistake that occurs while painting the Spray (especially with oil paints) is to define it very strongly with closing brush strokes. These calculated brush strokes give a very heavy appearance to the Waves and they look like puffed cotton.

The trick to avoid this mistake is to look closely at the direction of the spray and not the volume. Use your brush to “spray” while coloring in the direction of the wave and not being too firm about it.

5) Practice. It is advised that you try numerous water color sketches or pencil sketches of the waves before you begin painting your seascape.

Now let’s watch Australia born artist Jason Bowen as he paints a seascape before your very eyes.