Sunday, March 6, 2011

Ocean Blue

Ocean Blue
colored pencil on Rising Museum Board
7.5 x 9.5 inches
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Here it is, all finished. I have been looking at it for a couple of days now and am going to leave this one as it is. I am happy with the final result and I would like to do a few more ocean drawings. Every time we are at the beach I use up a ridiculous number of pixels taking pictures of the water and waves. I get captivated with the way the surf moves, expanding and contracting, out and in, and the patterns that are formed as each wave washes the shore. And the way the light at various times of day plays off the water, it's always something different to see. The last time we were at our favorite Edisto Beach the water was an amazing blue, like I had never noticed before. That is what I hoped to capture with my photos, and translate into this drawing. That incredible blue.
And just to show you, this was one of the stages as the drawing was nearing completion. I used ten different blue pencils, along with two purples, a pink, and a warm and a cool gray. As I was developing the darkest areas in the foreground I discovered that even my indigo blue wasn't giving me the depth in those darks that I wanted. So out came one of my favorite pencils, caput mortuum violet. You can see where I began adding it in the lower right portion of the image above. It did the trick too, by deepening and warming those dark areas just enough.
 And here it is again in its final state, same as the image at the top. Thanks for following along as I worked on this one. All of your kind and encouraging comments are so appreciated and help keep me going! Now, what should I draw next?

24 comments:

MaryO said...

Beautifully perfect and perfectly beautiful, Ann!

K said...

Oooh, keep drawing more waves! Love your style with them.

Sandy in Michigan said...

I can almost hear those waves hitting against the shore. Great job depicting water in motion.

Dan Kent said...

Amazing - a masterpiece. I agree with Sandy..I can hear them.

Jennifer Rose said...

*claps*
really well done :) lovely movement to it

Vicki Holdwick said...

Spectacular - I can almost hear it, too.

xoxo

Anonymous said...

Ann, this is STUNNING!!! I can not get over what you do with colored pencils. I swear, you could paint with anything.
Gorgeous, gorgeous. MORE, MORE, MORE please!!!

Janene said...

Fantastic work, Ann!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful! Congratulations!

Cathy Holtom said...

I agree waves are hypnotic. This is a fantastic piece of work Ann, you got the foam and colours pefectly.

Autumn Leaves said...

So very beautiful, Ann! The colors are so perfect and I am mesmerized by the action of the waves, just as I would be if I were standing on the shore just watching (something I'm wont to do when at the ocean's shore). Amazing job and a place to remember when needing a bit help trying to figure out water (I struggle with it).

Alex said...

photorealistic masterpiece =) I am always astonished by the power of color pencil and the artist whenever you do something like this

Gillian Mowbray said...

Beautiful work, Ann. The frothy foam really does have substance, somehow! x

Deborah said...

A wonderful painting, you have a real talent ... and I just love the picture of your gorgeous dogs :o)

The Art of Phil Davis said...

Stunning is all I can say!

Pam Johnson Brickell said...

Absolutely stunning! The movement and colors......

Barbara B said...

This is really fantastic. You can hear the crashing of the surf and see the movement of the waves!

Unknown said...

Goodness, that is beautiful! Well done!

Linda said...

Waves! Absolutely gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Lovely to see this one finished - it looks amazing. I just got back from some time spent at the ocean, and I also tend to take a lot of pictures trying to capture all its various moods. I may attempt to draw from one of the photos I got ... maybe. :)

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous!! And to think you can do this with colored pencil...amazing!

debra morris said...

Beautiful Ann!

Timaree said...

Wow! It's been a while since I've been by. I thought you did well before but you are improving still. This is super.

Teresa said...

This is gorgeous, Ann! Love the blues, the foam.... actually I love everything about it :-)

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