Sky and waves

Well, sometimes a fantastic photo doesn't turn into something I can paint. Yet anyway. When things go wrong, I always need to remind myself that I have never actually been taught how to paint landscapes in watercolours. All learned from books, before YouTube videos and online tutorials even existed. So I need to be kind to myself!

So for this idea, I used a photograph taken by @beebeepix1. Dramatic sky, rolling waves, silhouetted headland. It all looked good. But I can't make it work in watercolour. Maybe I need to step back from it. At least I have learned that the dark water is under the white of the wave! Hopefully I'll remember that. And also, that Phthalo Blue is hard to work with. Or was it Indanthrone blue? I'd better go look for my notes. Still have to figure out how to do orange reflections in blue water. And no, I don't want to use masking fluid!! So maybe I need to leave a lot of white to keep the two colours separate

Attempt #1

Practising the waves

Attempt #2 - dramatic sky.

So it is Phthalo blue (red shade)

Did another wash on the sky (kind of sorry I lost all the crazy effects) and added the sea and headlands. But although I used all the same pigments, it's like the sky and the sea don't belong to the same scene!

I ran another wash over the sea and it's unified the piece somewhat. It helps. Still. I think I need to use more artistic licence and change the colour of the sea altogether! That will be for another day, though.