While on a trip to see my dad for a few days this past spring, I took this picture of the sun setting over the water as we were sailing from St.Martin to St.Kitts. I wanted to remember my first time sailing on the sea with my dad and the serenity of the whole experiance; but most of all, I wanted to paint it!
I sketched this idea out on my canvas a while ago so I felt more pressure to get the colors *just* right. I decided to use the color matching tool in Photoshop to choose the color palette. I had an idea of what I wanted the color palette to look like but I - unfortunately - completely disregarded my creative instinct. Instead, I started painting with the colors that were accurate according to Photoshop.
Soon after applying the colors of the sky onto the canvas, I realized that the blues were too dull, the dark yellow looked terrible as a color in the sky, and when I tried to *trust the process* - apparetnly the process didn't know I was trusting it because - it just kept getting worse. It looked like a bad egg, more specifically, maybe a pickled egg? Nonetheless, it was time for a new idea. An idea chosen with my creative instinct!
Over Thanksgiving I packed my paints just in case I had time to work on this idea. I am so glad I did! I painted a draft using bright vibrant colors for both the sky and the ocean. The gradient of the sky was fun to figure out because in the picture, the sky was obviously orange and blue. However, the sky can never be just blue and orange, there always needs to be that next color in the gradient to get there. I played with this idea by starting the rainbow of a sky at the darkest orange and stopping at the bluest blue that matched on the picture.
For the ocean, I took equal creative liberties and created a pattern suitable to imply that the colors of the sky were reflecting on the water. The geometric pattern also allowed me to showcase the brightest trail of light in the middle of the ocean reflecting from the sun. Adding the warm colors in the bottom half of the painting facilitated a balance from the additional blues at the top of the painting.
Before I chose the canvas for this piece, I decided that I wanted it to be one of my first available prints! Since I would need to scan the finished product, it made the most sense to use a thick painting paper suitable for acrylic paint.
To prep the paper, I taped the edges and applied a clear paint, brushing towards the tape so that the lines would be as clean as possible once the tape is released. In hindsight, I think a matte finish clear paint would’ve worked best. I used a clear gloss because it was what I had on hand, but I did notice the first layers of color paint after that had a bit of trouble adhering to a glossy surface.
The blues of the ocean are created by a dark blue, a light blue, and white. I mixed the dark blue and the light blue to get a…
- Okay pause: I have not entirely figured out how to correctly use shade, tone, hue, or other color value descriptors so bear with me as I try to describe my reasoning -
…an in-between shade as opposed to choosing a completely different third blue because it’s already a vibrant painting and I didn’t want unnecessary colors to the seven I was already using. Similarly, I mixed the light blue and white, for the same reason, to use less colors while still being able to add a variety of shades.
As I was painting the sky, I thought to put into words my “why”:
Although the colors of the sky are by no means an exact replica, this painting is my interpretation of what I saw. This is what makes art fun for me. I enjoy the challenge of translating a picture to a painting.
At face value, I see a gradient sky that starts at orange right above the sun and ends at the top in a tranquil blue. I see the ocean reflecting the colors of the sky as the sun falls behind the curve of the earth.
At heart though, when I look out at the sun setting over the sea, I feel content. Yet somehow, seeing the sky painted so many beautiful colors by the atmosphere just fills me with so much joy and reminds me of how amazing my life is. I get to experience the wonders of the universe. Not only when I’m in the middle of the ocean with one of my favorite people, my dad; but even seeing the colors of the sky though the windshield of my car while I’m driving down the highway in North Carolina.
You can’t forget to appreciate the little moments. You must remember, no moment is too small to make your heart happy. Make sure you don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Being able to see the colors of the sky again and again, is one of the things that makes life worth living for me. It’s happy, It’s good, It’s complete, and I enjoy looking at it.
That’s how I want people to feel when they look at my art. I want them to feel happy, to think it’s good, and to enjoy looking at it.
Alright, enough philosophy, back to the techniques!
For the final touches, I brightened the colors of the sky and added in another shade of orange to the sky gradient. To outline this painting I initially wanted to use the silver since it would facilitate a fun shiny effect. Then I considered that it likely wouldn’t give the same effect once printed. Black is usually my go-to outline color but I remembered another piece I painted of a similar scene -the sun setting over the water- with a white outline. Once I saw the pop of the contrast with it in the water, I decided to stick with white!
Prints will be available in 2024!
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