When painting with acrylics I work in several layers. The softness of the underpainting contrasts with the more definite, vigorous brushmarks on the surface layers, and is particularly useful when describing waves and cloud forms. My next layers are glazes, applied using watery transparent colour, which effectively unify all the colours beneath and add depth of tone. Once dry, I add highlights and lowlights, applied quickly with thick dribbles and splashes of paint and strong, bright, colours.

I have often covered too much of the underpainting with top layers – knowing when to stop before obliterating your previous work takes time and experience. Oh the frustration of knowing that the painting was at its best four stages ago! It takes courage to leave a painting in a relatively ‘unfinished’ state, but this also enables the brain to fill in the gaps created, resulting in a more vibrant artwork.

DEMONSTRATION - Raging Seas

STAGE ONE

On a ready-primed canvas I very loosely drew the general movement of the wave in a 2B pencil. I covered the canvas with a very dilute mix of mainly Hooker’s green, Prussian and cerulean blue then lifted off areas of paint with a damp rag to indicate where the light hits the top of the waves. I used a heavily pigmented wash of Prussian blue towards the bottom right of the canvas, adding drops of methylated spirits to produce the organic forms in the paint: for this to work well the paint needs to be damp but not too wet. The marks were fast and required little detail.

STAGE TWO

I built up the contrasting tones of the clouds using cobalt and Prussian blue, burnt umber and a very small touch of titanium white in the darker areas, then a mixture of yellow ochre and a touch of process magenta for the pinkish clouds as well as an abundance of titanium white for the lighter tones. To depict sunlight from behind, I used pure titanium white along the edge of the clouds. I blended the whole area together with the tip of a finger, while keeping the sky area wet with an occasional spray of water from my spray bottle. I started to form the shape of the waves by painting a mix of white, yellow, green and process cyan. Using a mid-sized flat brush, I followed the curve down from the top of the water where the sun shines through, to give the wave light, shape and direction. Towards the front of the image, I also added a dark blue glaze of wet paint to suggest shadows of waves with glimpses of the underpainting showing through to suggest the seabed.

STAGE THREE

Using a ¾in flat wash brush I painted very loose marks in a sideways motion within the shadow of the wave to suggest reflected sky on the surface of the water. I also used a mix of process cyan, sap green and white, keeping the marks fast and free to suggest movement.

STAGE FOUR

For the tendrils of foam I used a rigger brush held lightly, loaded with fluid titanium white, which enabled the shapes to flow and overlap. To give the splashing foam energy, I loaded a size 15 palette knife with titanium white and briskly scraped it across the surface in an upward motion. To suggest the foam, I also bounced it off the surface in a sideways direction, resulting in several interesting splashes, then used a thin glaze of ultramarine and deep violet over the small areas to suggest shade before returning with more white splashes in the key areas for the final bright white spray. I did this at a distance of around 2ft using a rigger brush loaded with a wet mix of paint. As ever, a wet rag was at hand to wipe away stray splashes.

FINAL PAINTING

Raging Seas, acrylic, (60x60cm).

To unify the work and give it a warm glow I glazed the whole surface with a wet mix of raw umber and yellow ochre using a large, flat brush and elongated, sweeping marks, making sure to keep the paint moving and consistent across the canvas. Certain areas were painted with a thin Prussian blue glaze to produce deeper shadows and to make a number of previous marks recede. Finally, I added a bright mix of white, yellow, green and primary yellow surface marks to stand out against the background and direct the eye across the artwork.

Judith Yates trained as a fine artist before a career as a professional designer and illustrator. She is now a full-time artist, exhibiting and selling work privately and through a number of galleries in the UK and has work in private collections both home and abroad. Judith also runs regular workshops. www.judithyates.com

This demonstration is an extract from Judith's article in the December 2018 issue of The Artist