52 seascape reflections: week 3

The inspiration 

This trio was begun in 2021, fuelled by visits to West Wittering on the Sussex coast. I wanted to capture the feeling of the sea breeze, sand and water on my soul. It's as much an abstract exploration of the emotive possibilities of texture as it is figurative memory of watching and feeling the interplay of tide and sand.

^ Ocean caress 

The composition 

The triptych is designed to hang horizontally or vertically and in any order you prefer. The movement across the panels is part of the story. Change the juxtaposition and mix-up the mood of the sea. There is an intended way up, though.

In visual theory, squares are very static shapes. I love the way the movement in the composition is strong enough to make these feel full of energy, even though they are square in format.

^ Sinking toes

The media

This mixed media seascape trio is unusual as most of my seascapes are oil paintings. It's also much more textured than most of my acrylic creations. The result of lots and lots of layers and oodles more patience

Oil paint typically has more body than acrylic. Even when I add texture paste to acrylic, I'm always disappointed how much flatter the layers are when they dry. For this trio, I was less concerned with achieving dimensionality and more interested in capturing the contrast between the grittiness of the sand and the swirling tide through mark-making. In this respect, the faster drying acrylic works because the integrity of the mark is less likely to be disrupted by the next layer. Plus, the transparency of acrylic is great for water so was a good choice here. I've also added some gloss gel to heighten the transparency and texture in places. Win, win.

It's good to remind myself to consider acrylic for seascapes. Now that I'm comfortable working plein air with a homemade stay-wet palette, I reckon some plein air seascapes should be on the cards when the weather warms up.