Previous
Next
Here’s how you can make your own art inspired by JMW Turner.
MATERIALS
- Acrylic paints
- Acrylic gloss medium
- Canvas paper
- Paintbrushes
METHOD
- When you start, use one of Turner’s paintings as a reference. Create a drawing of the seascape roughly with a pencil, giving it only a basic outline. Turner’s speciality was to paint seascapes that displayed turbulence, storms and clouds, but he always used soft colours.
- To start painting, wet the brush just once. The trick to Turner’s paintings is that he always used forceful and strong brushstrokes.
- Start by using white, yellow and a touch of red. Make strong brushstrokes anywhere on the painting. For the sky, make vertical and curvy strokes while for water, paint horizontally.
- Now use gloss medium instead of water to wet the brush. The gloss medium loosens the paint and gives it a shine. It also keeps the paint from drying immediately so colours merge better. Mix the gloss medium with the colours. Keep adding colours to the painting while following the directions of the strokes.
- Give the water portion a base before adding more colours to it.
- To paint the sky, use a harder brush to get texture or use your fingers and make strokes in different directions. Merge colours to create a dramatic effect. The more the strokes, the more chaotic it will look.
- Change the colour of the water by adding more colours. Layer the colours and keep adding more. Use gloss medium where you want to show the colours underneath.
- Use white to create more drama in the painting.
- Show waves in the water.
- Since this is a sunset painting, mix a lot of colours. Add green in the water to show a slight reflection of the clouds and add white to show froth in the water. Blue will reflect the pure sky.
- Create a line of separation for the sky and water with maroon. Sharpen it with black. Use black to create highlights and shadows. Darken the border at the bottom with black to show depth. Mix in some blue if you want.
- Add a boat using black and white paint. Your painting is ready!
Jai Ranjit is a self-taught artist from Mumbai.
