" The deep water hold mysteries.
The crashing waves are rough and chaotic,
Yet the rhythm emotes calmness.
The horizon leads to a distant dream,
and the cloud speak different stories.
What a marvelous way to experience nature? "
For any landscape painters, seascape would be a favorite subject to paint. Though it might seem as a simple subject consisting of sand, sea, sky and sometimes with some additional elements like rocks and birds; to make a seascape painting successful, an artist should exercise meticulous thought process. There are lots of compositional rules and guidelines which we can follow to make a seascape painting more interesting.
The Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds is a type of off- center composition where important elements of a painting or a photograph are placed along a 3 x 3 grid, which divides the frame or the canvas into equal nine parts. For subjects like seascapes, the rule of thirds suggests us to place the main horizontal elements such as the horizon along any of these four horizontal lines. We can place vertical elements such as a tree or the peak of a mountain along one of these vertical lines as well. To create more interest, we can place other elements like a flying bird or a crashing wave on those four intersecting points.
Positive and Negative Spaces
Like any other painting, in seascapes we can add more interest with a well balanced positive and negative spaces. For example, sky holes can be used as an effective compositional element to achieve an interesting positive and negative space.
Linear Perspective
The key element to be taken in consideration in composition is the placement horizon and thereby setting a foreground, middle ground and background. It is important to give the viewer the sense of space and plain . For landscape painting, linear perspective plays crucial role. There are various ways with which we can create an interesting linear perspective.
- Overlapping various elements within your composition so that one can easily identify the spacing of foreground, middle ground and background of the scene.
- Use less details and texture for the objects in the middle ground and background.
- Paint with lighter values and less contrast for the distant elements.
- Use cooler colors to push elements to the background.
- Use warmer and darker colors to bring elements into the foreground.
- Scale the size of the object in accordance with the distance.
Atmospheric / Aerial Perspective
Atmosphere and weather both affect the strength or the intensity of light and shadow. Atmosphere is basically the almost invisible layer of air that sits between the water and the sky. Though it is invisible at a closer range, the atmosphere greatly affect the visual world, when seeing at a distance or under certain atmospheric condition. Weather condition can really affect the mood of the painting. Whether it is a rainy, sunny or a cloudy day, each one carries a different emotion. The color and the temperature of the sunlight is defined by the atmospheric and weather condition. To attain a good Atmospheric or Aerial perspective, one should have a great understanding on color.
Apply these tips in your painting process, you can definitely make your seascape painting more interesting.