Read an Excerpt
Introduction
The wet, sinking sand under your feet and water lapping at your toes. The salty air tickling your nose and sun baking into your skin. The sound of waves battering and rumbling . . . this is life near the ocean.
Because I grew up in a beach town, these sights, smells, and sounds are beloved sense memories for me. For many, the beach is a place to relax and break free from lives of overworking and busy schedules. For children, it’s a wonderful place to create memories and discover new landscapes and creatures.
This landscape holds so much beautiful texture and color—not one beach or ocean looks exactly the same. The way the beach looks in the morning, enveloped by fog and stillness, transforms at sunset, rich with color, waves rhythmically rolling in all night. When I look at any ocean or walk any shore, I feel peace. When I encounter a starfish or see a dolphin in the distance, I am met with awe! It’s a place full of life that is so inspiring to paint.
To me, the beach is not just paradise—it’s a place to explore and learn, a place to be moved, a place to experience joy and tranquility. It is also a place to treasure and that should be treated with great respect. My hope is that anytime you paint an ocean landscape or creature, you are met with this vastness and complexity of emotion and inspiration. This feeling of being in “flow state” can be encountered more easily when you think of this landscape and all it holds as a majestic and holy place. It is big, it is beautiful, and the creatures that inhabit it are powerful and mysterious.
Although painting ocean creatures, plants, and landscapes may seem complex, my goal is to simplify and break down the techniques so you can focus on how amazingly fun it is to paint with watercolor. Watercolor and the beach? It’s like they’re meant for each other, right? A match made in heaven, if you ask me!
We’ll start by working our way through all the technical stuff. You’ll have less fun painting if you miss these fundamental guides and tips, so don’t skip the introduction. Trust me!
Each section of this book will cover a particular type of subject: seashells, plants and fishes, sea creatures, ocean scenes, and painterly landscapes. We’ll cover different watercolor techniques and will begin with simple shapes that then become more complex. For example, we’ll start with a circle and build on it to create a conch, or murex, shell. Understanding how to break complicated subjects down into simple shapes—whether you are using a reference photograph or working from life—will help you paint more confidently!
Throughout my years of teaching, I’ve found that many people, though skilled, lack confidence. My goal with this book is to simplify even the most complex-looking subjects so you can feel comfortable painting anything on your own. Painting is such a joyful experience, and if you put in the work on the basics you can accept and conquer new challenges as you grow in your painting practice.
