Swimmers in bright hats, Acrylic on 30x30cm wooden block

Lisa Shearing combines her love of painting and sea swimming with two step-by-step acrylic painting demonstrations.

Inspiration

I am very lucky to be able to combine my two passions in life, painting and swimming!

Since I discovered my love of sea swimming, every swim fills me with inspiration to paint. 

Each swim is different, it might be that gorgeous sunrise swim with lashings of peachy paint with bursts of yellow or maybe a misty atmospheric calm sea, both equally beautiful, and then there are those days you arrive at the beach and it’s a bouncy wavy sea, it has to be a wave jumping dip, so much fun!

Top tip

Lisa recommends using Pebeo acrylics for fluorescent colours.

ORDER YOURS HERE

Demonstration: Swimmers in Bright Hats

Step one - covering the surface

Begin by covering the surface with white and then, whilst this is still wet, block in some light pink for the sky.

Step two - building the colours

Then begin building up the colours of the sea and sky using layers of ultramarine mixed with small amounts of white and followed by dabs of cadmium yellow for the top section.

Build up the area closest to the shore at the bottom of the painting using ultramarine mixed with white and raw umber.

Step three

Continue adding colour and texture. An old splayed brush is great for flicking on surf!

Step four - adding the figures

Using a mix of raw sienna and burnt sienna begin to block in the figures.

Step five

Once dry, add swimsuits in a variety of colours and use flourescent colours for the swimming hats.

The finished painting

Swimmers in bright hats, Acrylic on 30x30cm wooden block

Demonstration: The Swim

The Swim, acrylic on 32”x32” box canvas

Step one - blocking in

Block in the sky, sea and beach areas.

Begin with the sky using white with ultramarine light dabbed on top whilst still wet, followed by a greenish blue mixed from ultramarine, raw sienna and white for the sea plus a weak layering of burnt sienna for the beach.

Step two - refining the colours

Add the seaweed using dabs of burnt sienna and raw sienna followed by green once dry.

Lighten the sand colours using a mix of raw sienna, raw umber and white.

Step three - adding the figures

Block in the figures using raw and burnt sienna. Leave to dry then add in the additional colours for swimsuits, hats and floats.

Finished painting

The Swim, acrylic on 32”x32” box canvas

About Lisa

Lisa is a self-taught artist who paints mainly in acrylics but loves trying something new.

She is available for commissions by emailing, [email protected] and a variety of swim-related greeting cards, art prints and a few original paintings can be purchased from her Etsy shop, www.etsy.com/shop/lisasart66

See more from Lisa in the PaintersOnline gallery by clicking here.

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