First Steps

The next step in this painting, is filling in the sea floor behind the corals. I've used pure yellow ocher as the dark, and a mixture with lots of titanium white for the lighter areas. Then I used a dry brush to drag some more of the dark over the lighter areas... to give it a bit of a textural look. Later on, blue glazes over the yellow ocher will give it just the right color, and a sense of depth.

A Begining

This is how I often begin a painting... with a drawing on the canvas.

I start by laying in some of the darks, this is all done with burnt umber --- loaded brush for the darks --- the lighter passages are scrubbed in with the brush after I wipe most of the paint off with a paper towel.

Here's a closer shot of the drawing, that shows the coral that goes across the bottom of the painting,. There's not really a lot of detail... just trying to establish a sense of scale and a pattern foe the lights and darks. This is usually all I do in the first session, it takes about an hour.