Seascape Artist

From his website at www.ejohnrobinson.com
Paint the Sea and Shoreline in Watercolors Using Special Effects by E. John Robinson
ISBN 1-929834-32-2
and
Paint the Sea in Oils Using Special Effects by E. John Robinson
ISBN 1-929834-04-7

I have both of these books on my bookshelf. I’ve read them both many times being a seascape artist. I learn something new each time I pick one of them up off the shelf or remember something I have forgotten that I need to remember.

In the Paint the Sea in Oils, I think Chapter 8 - Composition for Seascapes is my favorite part of the entire book. He has a sketch next to a completed painting … in the outline and implied line example, there is a an S over the top of the completed painting - it shows the S-curve that so many use … some deliberately and some by intuition. I’ve been told by non-artists that seascapes should be easy - they are just flat across. That sounds more like stripes to me than a seascape painting LOL but then I think that is how many people are able to describe what they are seeing in front of them … and my “thinking in pictures” mind then sees wallpaper stripes turned sidewise. This book has helped me grow as an artist and I like it very much.

Others have mentioned how the beach full of people looks like a flower garden in bloom. I love this visual …. a flower garden overlooking the sea sounds like a slice of heaven in this noisy world to me … perhaps some red, yellow and blue wild flowers on a hill above the ocean as well - I did a painting of a seaside grassland meadow covered in dandelions based on that thought and the framing I chose was based on my desire to simulate looking through a window at the view outside.

Can you tell what medium I painted it in - was it oils, watercolor or on the computer? Does it really matter? To me, what matters is that I enjoy creating and that people enjoy seeing it and living with it. I create art from what I feel, what I remember, what I like, what I do not like … life. I buy art and decorations based on what is visually pleasing and that I can live with - I think most people do the exact same thing. Doesn’t matter … but I painted it on the computer.

Digital painting has not replaced oil painting or watercolor painting in my life … it has given me more opportunities to be creative and to experiment with all kinds of things I never dreamed of trying before the computer. In seascape painting … sometimes that is a marvelous thing - layers are wonderful masking fluid that doesn’t dry on my brush! (For more information on me & masking fluid, you can read about my experiences “Using Masking Fluid / Frisket” on my Watercolor Gift Blog.)

Dandelion Coast by Barbara Burns

Tags: Seascape, Barbara Burns, Dandelion Coast

Marine Painter’s Guide by Jack Coggins - ISBN 0486449742 - I bought the book locally at Texas Art Supply - It is an “Unabridged Dover 2005 republication“. Mr Coggins (deceased) did a great job with the book and his paintings are terrific! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. His extended family created the website.

Being a seascape artist, I am automatically drawn to books referencing painting the water or boats. Neither my boats nor my seascapes go into the kind of detail he puts into the book BUT … it is very helpful to read and learn about the details even if I never actually paint any of those details in my own paintings. It gave me a better appreciation for the depth of detail so many of the great seascape painters put into (OR LEFT OUT) of their paintings of the full masted sailing ships or schooners and those wonderful harbor scenes that are not my forte either. I love to see them and it is enjoyable to learn more about how they were created.

I believe this book is invaluable though for anyone who does paint or draw detailed ships and/or harbor scenes - what you can learn about rigging and masts as well as sails and harbors will help infuse a lot of realism into your work even if you paint abstract seascapes. Sometimes, knowing what to suggest or to leave out of a painting is what makes the difference between a masterpiece and a so-so okay but not quite right painting. I found it quite helpful to see his value sketches in the book and how he portrays rain in those sketches … rain is hard to portray in any medium I think. The book is full of sketches, paintings and more information than I could ever hope to learn yet I eagerly read every word, studied each sketch and painting - now you know why I haven’t written much recently - I have been busy studying, enjoying and following the wisp of inspiration that has visited me with reading and studying this book.

NOTE: After moving in September, my computer died too - I finally bought a new one but this book keeps drawing me back to study the sketches some more. The lighthouses are fascinating too!