Seascape Painting

Seascape painting has been done successfully by many great artists working in a variety of media including oils, acrylics and watercolor. Like landscape painting, seascape paintings offter an endless variety of possibilities in terms of scenes and moods. Because of the constant mobility of water, seascape painting offers a different, and perhaps more difficult challenge to the artist.

In terms of venues, seascape paintings which are done on site must obviously be done by the sea, but there are hundreds of potential scenes for seascape painting. Seascape paintings may represent the English shore, scenes by the Baltic, the shores of the Mediterranean, the south Pacific, or seascape paintings can be and have been done in the South Pacific, the Caribbean and along the North Atlantic coast.

Seascape paintings may include sandy shores, a mountain vista or a fishing village. A seascape painting might show a lighthouse, sailboats or simply a serene sunset. The possibilities for seascape paintings are endless. But seascape painting is demanding and can be difficult. The very things which make the sea fascinating make it difficult to create successful seascape paintings.

The sea is constantly in motion, and has a thousand moods. If the artist is doing seascape painting on site, he must somehow capture the effect of motion in his painting. This is not easy and requires much practice. The sea simply won't stand still for one to do a seascape painting. One solution to this is, after getting the feeling of a site, taking a photograph and painting from the photograph. Even doing a seascape painting in this way, the artist must get the feeling of the motion of the sea.

Famous artists have developed different styles of seascape painting, and they range from the impressionistic approach of such artists as Monet and Cezanne, to the surging power of paintings by Turner. Andrew Wyet uses watercolor for effective portrayal of the sea in a different style of seascape painting.

Solid objects as part of seascape painting can offset the constantly moving sea in ways which contribute to the feeling of fluidity in the water. Waves crashing on rocks can heighten the effect of motion if the artists depicts soaring spray in his seascape painting.
Just as water is constantly in motion, the color is constantly changing as well. Stormy water is dark and heavy, accented by white foam. Calm water may show only ripples, but reflects the light in various ways. All in all, seascape painting is a highly challenging area, but it has been done wondrously effectively by a number of famous artists.

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