Interested in purchasing art work? Please leave a comment with your email address. I'll contact you. Illustration work is available at ASA "Style File."

Monday, November 7, 2016

Big Waves at Narrabeen

The picture book illustration of "My Dog Socks" is ongoing steadily! In a break, I love capturing waves by watercolour. Waves never bore me. So beautiful, magical, energetic, emotional and full of life. Hard winds swirled up waves at Narrabeen beach. Waves changed into white with bright colours that picked up sands. Colours were different from a usual ocean around at 4 pm, which fascinated me. (*Usually, waves begin to turn to dark blue.) Many people were looking at waves with awe. Too big waves and we could not swim. Instead of a swim, I enjoyed sketching.  
Capturing waves by watercolour painting is not easy, at first. 
But perseverance is my assets. Where there is a will, there's a way. I really, really wanted to GRAB waves on papers. I wanted to depict lively waves, their movements and a drama. When I look up my old sketches, improvement is found. 

These are my solutions.  Friends, bring a good paper to a beach! My starting point was this sketch on a thin sketch book paper. It was a stormy sea that excited me. Unfortunately, a sketch book paper was too thin to hold washes! I could not depict a rough sea enough. Yet, I found the technical solution. White crayon/wax and colours are helpful. A bitter experience taught me the importance of a good/thick paper. Ever since, I bring my favourite 300 gsm which holds washes well.  
Another, a physical issue was, hey, it was impossible to stand on a windy beach. I sketched a rough sea from the inside of my car, aw, cosy and snug! This is the work.  
These days, we haven't had much rain. A dry weather helps my watercolour painting at a beach. (*Sometimes, humidity makes me wait until washes get dry enough to move on to another brush strokes on a beach.) I love looking at waves after swimming at a beach as well as others. Waves wash away all the heavy stuff from our chests. Waves are born, come closer, go away...and perish. They look like us, humans. 
Friends, Happy Painting! 



 
Share/Bookmark

10 comments:

  1. Hi Sadami, painting waves is not an easy task by an means but you do it very well. Thanks for the advice about the paper. It is very important to the success of the artist to have good material to work with for the conditions. I hope you have a wonderful week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, sweet Carol. I'm sure you'll have fun in painting waves. Just give it a go. I'm enjoying the picture book illustration. It's going well and steady. Cheers, Sadami

      Delete
  2. Ah Sadami I so adore your sketches of the sea. I am sure you never tire of capturing all those waves of beauty. Hope you are having a delightful day. Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sweet Debby, thank you so much! Yes, I'm enjoying life and early Christmas shopping. Hey, do u kne? Google, "Moschino" eau do toilette. You'll find the bottle is WINDEX! Cheers, wink, wink, Sadami

      Delete
  3. Dear Sadami I love your wave sketches. I almost hear water crashing upon the shore. The first sketch has interesting mosaic like look. You are happy to live so near to the seaside.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Agnieszka, thank you so much! Yes, I love hearing sounds of a sea. Like you said the first sketch is a good technical example of mosaic like look. If you can good a mosaic like a natural look, you can be a winner of watercolour painting of waves. Ah, I'm so happy to live near to the seaside. I love to a beach at anytime.
      Love and smile, Sadami

      Delete
  4. These are all so beautiful in their own ways. I'm glad you didn't try swimming in that rough water!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, so sweet Rhonda, thank you very much! Once, I was washed away from a pool and another injured lady called an ambulance. Ever since, I never, ever dare to swim in rough water.

      Delete
  5. Sadami, te felicito por estas magníficas pinturas sobre las olas! Ya había visto anteriormente y... siempre me han gustado mucho. Me gustaría saber pintarlas como tú. Este miércoles, cuando estuve en una villa marinera, cerca de Barcelona, había muchas olas en el mar. Intenté pintarlas y tuve un enorme fracaso. Rompí la acuarela porque no me atreví a enseñarla. Tendré que practicar mucho.
    Un fuerte abrazo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Muchas gracias, Joshemari! La primera acuarela es la más reciente y la nueva. Otras dos pinturas son viejas. Siento mucho haber oído que habías arrancado tus propias pinturas de olas. Por favor, no seas demasiado duro contigo mismo. Ser amable con usted mismo. La gente parece pensar que la pintura de las olas es difícil, pero como he escrito anteriormente, no es tan difícil. Encuentre su propia manera de capturar las olas. Cada uno de nosotros es diferente y Joshemari necesita sus propias expresiones. Mis mejores deseos, Sadami

      Thank you very much, Joshemari! The first watercolour painting is the most recent and new one. Two other paintings are old ones. So sorry to hear you had torn your own paintings of waves. Please do not be too tough on yourself. Be kind to yourself. People seem to think painting of waves is hard, but like I wrote above, it is not so hard. Find your own way to capture waves. Each of us is different and Joshemari needs your own expressions. Best wishes, Sadami

      >>> Joshemari said...
      Sadami, I congratulate you on these magnificent paintings on the waves! I had seen it before and ... I have always liked it very much. I would like to paint them as you do. This Wednesday, when I was in a fishing village, near Barcelona, there were many waves in the sea. I tried to paint them and I had a huge failure. I broke the watercolor because I did not dare to show it. I will have to practice a lot.
      A hug.

      Delete