COASTAL ADVENTURE PAINTING LESSONS
The ocean will always hold a special place in my heart as the first place I backpacked to as a child with my family. There is something so magical about the sound of waves, the smell of fog and saltwater (unless it's low tide with seaweed), and searching tidepools for starfish. I hope that these classes, filmed on the Washington and Oregon Coasts, might share some of that magic with you.
To learn more about each class (colors used, location details, lesson length, primary techniques) and to navigate to the lesson, click the images below or scroll down.
Foggy Coast (Dec. 2023)
Location: Toleak Point, Washington Coast
Video Time: 2 hr 5 min - Go to this lesson -
This painting is quintessential Pacific Northwest; atmospheric, moody, full of beautiful greys, and painted in swirling bands of coastal fog.
Colors Used: Neutral Tint, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Quinacridone Rose, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Indanthrone Blue, White Gouache (optional)
Primary Techniques:
- Mixing lively and subtle grey mixtures perfect for foggy scenes
- How to create an atmospheric and textural sky
- Painting gentle ocean waves and strategies for creating depth in watery landscapes
- Using hard and soft edges and atmospheric effects to create a feeling of distance on our painting and within layers of sea stacks
Sea to Trees (Jun. 2021)
Location: Oregon Coast & The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology
Video Time: 2hr 34 min - Go to this lesson -
A three part painting adventure beginning at the ocean's edge painting a sea arch, then exploring sand dunes and ocean hues, and ending in a mossy grove of Sitka Spruce trees.
Colors Used:
- Sea Arch: Cobalt blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Quinacridone Rose, New Gamboge
- Sand Dunes: Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Quinacridone Gold, Buff Titanium, Neutral Tint
- Sitka Spruce: Hansa yellow medium and Cobalt Blue
Primary Techniques:
- Using ink lines to enhance the depth and texture of a painting
- Exploring more vibrant colors than what we see in our landscape
- Using blooms for rock texture
- Dry brushing for ocean waves
- A new technique for painting grass/ foliage with a splayed brush!
- How to use two colors to create a beautiful tree and gradients when mixing wet-in-wet
Winter Sea Stacks at Secret Beach (Feb. 2022)
Location: Secret Beach, in the Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor. Oregon.
Video Time: 2 hrs 25 min - Go to this lesson -
Winter sunlight illuminates layers of sea stacks and the sound of the outgoing tide is a constant companion as we explore how to paint the unusual light in this beautiful place.
Colors Used: Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Perylene Red, New Gamboge
Primary Techniques:
- Painting ocean water with dry brushing and horizontal lines
- using blooms to create texture and pattern
- Creating depth by altering value, saturation, and detail
- Trees, especially far-away yet still detailed trees
- Wet-in-wet color application for rocks
Painting the Pacific Coast (Apr. 2021)
Location: Beach by the Estuary of the Salmon River, Oregon Coast.
Video Time: 1hr 45min - Go to this lesson -
Walk through a mossy forest and paddle across the Salmon River with me as we journey to an isolated beach on the Pacific Coast to sketch the ocean, headlands, and shells.
Colors Used: Cobalt Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Neutral Tint, Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Sienna, Hansa Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Rose
Primary Techniques:
- Creating realistic ocean wave patterns with minimal brush strokes
- Deciding on a layout for a page of visual observations
- Sketching & painting smaller, more detailed objects
- Working on two smaller paintings simultaneously to save time
- Altering the landscape to work well as a composition
- Easy textures for meadows and painting shadows on coastal rocks
Tracy Arm Tidewater Glaciers (September 2024)
Location: Tracy Arm (Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska)
Video Time: 2 hrs 9 min (Bonus sections add one hour) - Go to this lesson -
I am so excited to share one of my favorite paintings from the North Cascades. We explore a landscape of snow, rock, and ice floating in an alpine tarn.
Colors Used: The paintings in this lesson use a variety of colors, which are listed in the downloads for each painting. The main colors in the primary painting are sodalite, phthalo blue green shade, indanthrone blue, burnt sienna/transparent oxide, Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Umber, Cobalt Blue
Primary Techniques:
- Simplifying a very complex scene into more simple shape and color zones
- Creating patterns for rock and snow
- Wet next to wet techniques for painting rocks with beautiful patterns and color
- How to paint ice filled water
- Simplifying a jumbled icefall of a glacier
