Surf Study, 8x10" oil, ©Diane Mannion
Practice
Have read E John Robinson's Painting the Sea books again and again. Have watched Don Demers, Marine Painting: Art of the Waves about twenty-five times. Have spent years of my life staring at the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico trying to figure it out. Have painted at the beach a lot! I still find painting the surf challenging.
Surf Study is practice for spending a week in Maine painting the Atlantic this summer. Water painting is also an important element in my work and I'm determined to figure it out.
This small painting sat around my studio for months in various stages of frustrated wipe-outs. One problem was the terrible reference photo I took one gloomy day and started working with. Finally had to abandon it and use visual memory and imagination.
After getting tight and loosing up, blurring, scrubbing, and blending... finally got angry and slapped strokes on to finish or else! And sheesh... now I like it.
5 comments:
It's wonderful. So glad you kept at it. Many of us give up too soon.
I like it too :-). Well done.
I like it too!!!
Thanks for your comments, Janene, Amy, and Cory! Adjusting to the slower studio pace which is a lot more "spit and polish" than plein air. Will always use plein air studies for reference, so still getting out to paint on location as much as possible.
Wow, Diane, the outcome of this painting is as epic as the story behind it! It is stunning! Hard to believe you could do this from visual memory - you are amazing!
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