Cabo San Lucas - Crashing Waves!!!

It has been a couple weeks since I last posted. I have been trying to improve my technique and unfortunately, the local teachers(artists) weren't of much help, at least from what I have found so far. I hope I will be able to find a local teacher that are willing to share their techniques & knowledge with me. So....I have been studying a number of different books, styles, DVD's and trying to copy a bit as well, which I find as a useful tool for learning.

I have really been influenced and taken to Arnold Lowrey's painting's, DVD, and book, Sea and Sky in Watercolour. It is straight forward, although he makes it look so simple, it is not! I have really enjoyed painting a number of exercises in his book and some of the paintings as well.

So onto my painting. This is a photo of a beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. A great place for sun, fishing and relaxing. Beautiful scenery as well. This is on Conda 8.5 x 11.5 inch Cold Press, 300 gsm/140 lb Watercolor paper. All paints were W&N including, raw umber, burnt sienna, burnt umber, cerulean blue, ultramarine, veridian and finishing touches for the sea spray using Chinese White.

The second picture is a detail picture of the wave. I thoroughly enjoyed painting this one.

Inspired by Arnold Lowery

Certain things draw you to a picture, painting or the style of an artist. After viewing a number of paintings on WetCanvas by Arnold Lowery, I was drawn to his style, flow and creative ideas in his paintings. I especially like his "action" paintings of the sea. For those of you who aren't familiar with Arnold, he is an artist from Wales and as you can imagine, is inspired by the sea. A few weeks ago I purchased his instructional book Sea and Sky in Watercolour and I also got the DVD to go along with it. It is a really helpful book full of ideas using his techniques. What I have learned is something that I will be able to use in my paintings, but with tweeking to my own style. The DVD is a very helpful tool to actually see him painting.

The painting above is a rendition of one of Arnold's paintings titled "Cliffs" in his book. This is my version of it and I think it is similar. I made a few changes to it though. This is a smaller painting on an 8x10 Conrad Watercolor paper, 300 gsm or 140 lb, Cold Press. I hope that one day I will be able to make it to Wales to attend one of Arnold's classes. Your comments are always welcome and I appreciate any feedback regarding any of my paintings, pictures or the site in general.