I was once called a spiritual seascape artist.

And it wasn't a compliment.

[piano plays in bright rhythm & tone] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The reason it wasn't a compliment is that "Anybody can walk on my water" meant it was hard!

The foam patterns were hard.

You could walk on them like chunks of ice.

So I've overcome that with a little bit of quality refinement.

Now, today we're doing stage 3 of "Afternoon Power."

And you can see the finished painting on the easel to the left.

But it's no guarantee that it's going to look like that.

If I can make it better, I'll make it better.

What I think you're going to find very interesting as we get started-- I'll dip first in walnut oil with a large brush-- and we'll put this on the whole canvas.

When I say the whole canvas, what I'm really saying is I'll put some on and then spread it around with a paper towel, which makes it cover the complete canvas, and you can see in using a paper towel, it is going to be less runny than when you put it on just with the brush.

Now I had not planned to do this, but you're special, so I'm going to do it is, I'm going to give it, not a Saturday night bath, that would be with a pure color.

We're going to do what you call mud pack, and that has some White in it.

But it's almost thinking like well, gee, are you going back to first base?

You're on third base.

You going back to first base?

Because we started this with Ultramarine Blue and White.

I guess I could jump over here.

We started with Ultramarine Blue and White, and then we're coloring it with acrylics and now with oil.

So on my mud pack, I'm backing up.

I'm taking some Ultramarine Blue and a little Phthalo Blue and White.

So you think are you starting over?

No, but when I put this on, at first you're going to be a little shocked, and then I'll kind of wipe it around.

It shocked me, it better shock you too.

Why am I doing this?

I don't know!

[laughs] But basically what I would say is that so I can have it very soft and filmy and can work into it.

So there's something that's going to be wet as far as paint on the canvas more than just the oil.

It sort of softens everything a bit, and then you build the lights very dramatically but they have something to blend into, so they're quite nice and soft.

You're doing this with acrylics underneath so therefore, I know they're dry.

I could do this over oil, but you want to make sure it's real dry before you put on the mud pack.

Okay, now that's fairly smooth.

You're also blending this, wiping this around a little bit with the paper towel.

Okay now I'll start, and I think what I will do will be pretty much-- we'll go to the top and sort of work down and see what happens there.

So I have some of this same color that I used as my mud pack color.

We want to add something into that.

Let's try a little Quinacridone Rose.

Put a little more White in that.

And see what that looks like.

Where you going to put this?

I'm going to start up in here.

Yeah, that'll work, but I'm going to jump down here to the side first which is more of the bluish tone and put this in to just represent the open sky.

Now I'm pushing that pretty hard, and the reason I'm doing it is that I want that color to be stronger than what's there now.

[soft scraping] So if I were to do this again, I'd say okay, we won't use you quite yet.

Let's get some of this blue in.

[soft scraping] The nice thing about the oil is that you can blend it, put some more up, and it hasn't dried.

The acrylic dries rather quickly.

Now, the color that I put up here was Rose added into that.

I'm going to add a little bit more and a little more of the blue so it's just a slight bit darker than I first had placed up there.

Yeah, that's better.

[soft scraping] And I'll come down low with this.

Your sky, what you have in mind is the dome shape.

Like the earth is round, then the atmosphere above it is round.

So to make it feel like it's round, you're a little darker at the top than you are down below.

You'll find a lot of artists will just darken the corner and it gives the impression of being that dome shape.

[soft scraping] We'll come over in here, just for now to soften that area.

[soft scraping] See, now this is kind of building towards adding darks at the last in the sky.

[soft scraping] Okay, now adding the darks in.

Let's take some this is Rose color.

I'm using a little brush, I mean a brush to mix it with.

Here is Umber and the Rose, maybe a touch of blue.

There we go, now watch where we go with this-- right in there.

Oo, is that powerful!

You may be a little dark, I'll put a little light with you.

Yeah, that's just a little better.

Isn't that rich?

It's so nice when you ask a question and nobody knows the answer, or I don't hear anything.

Now, when I put this down below, which I've just done, you can see it's the same as that as far as value, because we're talking about the dome shape that it's darker up here, and it gets lighter far away then we soften this at the low part.

And I'll jump over to the right side.

Yip!

Same color.

You gonna tell me you're the same color?

No, you're not the same color.

I'll put a little bit of the Rose back into it.

There you go, and we'll darken the corner a little bit.

We're just starting the game.

We'll put in the big hitters as we get bases loaded.

Now, I'm staying away from this area right now so that when I put that on it'll go on almost a dry area, and it will have great impact.

I like that dark cloud right there; that's a good one.

And by having put on the acrylics, you get a little idea where you're going with this.

So it's trying to pretty much keep the value that's there already.

You don't change it much.

Okay now, I'm going to pull you over just a little bit.

Now let's work in the sun area.

I'll change brushes; you need a rest.

What are you?

I think you're good.

You're better.

Okay, let's take Yellow Ochre, White, more White.

And I'll come right in here.

My intention is to place this on, then we'll tint around it to get little pinks and so on.

Rolling makes it where I can use small amount of paint and really go to town with it.

Then I'll take some Red, this is Cadmium Red Light.

See, that really emphasizes the burn of the cloud, then I'll put some of this reddish tone over in here, a little bit up in here, and a little bit over in there.

So we'll leave the sky and go over to the left to the big cliff, and I'll take a flat sable brush.

Where are you?

You are right here.

And I'll use some of that same, this is Cadmium Red Light.

Let's move it down on the side so we can add a little Blue in with it, right there.

Now, this doesn't change the color much but it does make it so it's wet so when I go lighter, it is a little lighter, but when I put the light into it it will have something to blend into.

Now is the time to make something lighter, so I have a little Yellow Ochre and White with some Cadmium Orange added to it.

Isn't that pretty?

That is such an important spot on the painting because the big wave splashes up towards that.

Not as much over here... a little bit higher.

And what's always helpful-- if you have a little blender brush, mop brush.

If you kind of brush with the line, against the line very gently.

You'll find out very quickly how much pressure you can or shouldn't use... should use or shouldn't use.

Okay, we'll come down now to the bank on the left, and I have Burnt Umber over here someplace.

Let's try that just straight Burnt Umber and see what happens.

I think it happened, and watch what happens here.

You have just a little of it touching against that light, so we get a nice contrast.

The thing that I kind of notice which is special too, if you add just a little touch of Red... it's right-- oops, that's a little generous!

Come on back!

Okay, now I'm not calling the sky finished.

We still have the sun to put in there, but let's come down with putting on some foam.

I have, this is White, and I'm mixing this into that first mud color we had.

As I look at it, it's going to be just a little different color than that, but I like this color.

It seems to be more natural for what I'm painting here.

This is oil as we've said, but it is such a blessing to be able to use it and then just soften it.

Just feather it so it really has the character of foam.

And I don't mind some of the previous acrylic, the underpriming, to be part of the color scheme.

So I'll use that.

This is really the purpose of using several layers.

You make use of the underneath ones as well.

You don't eliminate them or destroy them.

What's the difference between destroy and eliminate?

I don't know-- that's one for the floor director to take up!

But gee, I like that because that instantly gives me, besides showing through, but down here it gives the feeling of form, because this is a little lighter than this.

That's why when you put on that first acrylic, you know you say--I need to talk to you.

You put on that first acrylic, you say okay well, I'm going to cover it anyway.

Baloney!

Do a careful job in each stage just as if you were to stop wherever you stop.

It may not be complete, but it looks good.

So here, having put that acrylic on in a nice decorative fashion, it's really working to my benefit now because I can use it as the shadow of the wave.

In fact, up above here, I'm going to even wipe a little bit off to let some of that blue show through.

And right up above if I wipe just a little bit to kind of soften that edge, which is actually maybe removing a little bit of the cliff color.

Same thing here.

You're making use of that blue as the third value.

I like talking values where you say we have 3 values.

We'll put on a highlight, which will be a number 1.

This is a number 2, and that's a number 3.

If you have that in mind, you can't fail on making form whether it's still life, a person or a seascape landscape.

Over on the eye is a continuation of that thought.

I'll put some dark in there and then we'll have a little light.

So the dark will be like a number 3, and the little lighter with a 2, and then finally a 1, so it has form; form this way, form that way.

Okay let's take, you're Ultramarine Blue.

Let's take a little Umber and a little Viridian Green.

Been sitting on that bench a long time.

And here again, I'm making use of what was there previously with the acrylic.

No reason to cover them up.

We'll add to them rather than cover them up.

A little bit in the back.

What about the big wave there?

I don't think I'll put any dark in there.

We'll put light on and pull it down.

So the light will be pulled down over a dry surface.

And you can see-- usually I put the rocks in last so that I don't get any dirt in there, but you'll see how much, how close those rocks are already.

Just a little bit of color on them will work.

Okay, going further with the eye of the wave.

I have-- I don't know what you are.

You're Rose with a little Umber, and I'll put this down here.

I'll put it up higher, and then we'll wipe.

And when I'm wiping, see, I'm conscious that I have a nice blend there and then I'll wipe harder where I'm going to add the number 1.

So that's like a number 2, and this is a number 3 below.

Okay let's go ahead with just a little bit of highlight on the wave, and that, we're taking White.

Oo, Red you snuck in.

White with ah...

Raw Sienna?

Oh, I think that'll work fine.

Okay, clean brush.

You know, when you do into the walnut oil, if you just dip in, and then you're not going to stir the whole thing up like I just did.

Okay, here comes the Raw Sienna and White.

And I'll put on a small amount of this because we're going to blend around with it.

This again would represent number 1 on top of the wave.

We talked about it being a 1, 2, and 3.

See, this is all placement, which means it will have some blend for quality.

But gosh the energy that's there.

It's just so exciting even though I've been painting since 1970, 1962, 1970 full time.

Oh, 40, 45 years!

And still this excites me because I don't know, it's just something new again.

Each thing has it's own individual personality, and that's almost like when you meet people.

If you look for what makes them important or what makes them unique, you'll find it.

But if you say oh, they're all just the same.

You can't do that!

Same thing with a painting.

They're all different.

So if I compare you to a painting, Cassie, I would give you the masterpiece status.

All right, here we go down here and we go over here, and this, remember we have splashed a little there.

Now before I blend that I'm going to take some, this is still Raw Sienna and White.

Oh you know what I see?

I see just a little tinge of green in that eye.

Hazel eyes.

Blending softly down because it's wet paint down below, and then let's go with just a little strength there.

Oh, we'll wait on the strength because it's kind of fun to watch that happen.

Okay, now I'll take the Raw Sienna and White and I'm going down into the trough of the wave.

And see with the acrylics, I'd already established foam patterns.

So all I'm doing is enhancing them.

And I'm consistent in the way they're moving.

Just a little bit like that.

It just breaks up that area that seems too straight across, like this.

This is a little straight.

So if you just-- just a little feeling of movement in there.

Now I need to come back with a little bit of-- this is Red and the Raw Sienna.

Just a little bit in here.

Remember earlier we put that on, and it represents very thin water too, but now with it being wet, it's a little easier to blend it in.

Okay, here's what I'm going to do in sequence.

First, we'll blend the big foam, and then, we'll come back and put some quality into the sky.

Now this, when I blend the foam, that leaves me an opportunity to come later and put just a little extra paint on.

You realize this was a 4-stage painting, right?

So when I say come back, it's come back in a few seconds.

Okay now here, we blend it to show movement.

And then just a little bit of a splash-up.

That is so important-- it takes away the hardness, and it makes it very, you know, very original.

It's just, that's the way it is.

Oh, just a slight wipe.

Down here a little bit.

Now down here, I'm going to, with what's on the brush, just make a little bit of sway so it's not totally dark.

You get a little feeling of maybe some foam patterns in there.

Okay, now I'm going to take a palette knife and go up to the sky.

This is Cadmium Yellow and White.

And this is being put on with the knife.

I don't know, Red, why do you insist on being part of the show.

Right in there, and I'll blend that in just a minute, but you see the impact of that.

And I likewise like to follow the old path idea that lightest light is traveling in a straight line.

Right down there, down to the next one... and down to the next one.

That really holds your eye there.

Okay, we'll blend a little bit.

What I sometimes suggest doing, well, I should say when, would be to blend some rays in the sun, but we'll do it just a little bit like this.

Oh, this has been so much fun with you today.

It's stage 3, and we've really come a long ways.

You've earned your merit badge in maritime!

Okay, I'll blend as we say good-bye.

Let me just look at you and say thank you for watching today!

I hope this will be a help to you.

You send me pictures of what you do with it or even suggestions what you would do or have done.

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