Seascape with Cobras

I always wanted to paint a seascape, but have never tried it . I recently got a starter set of Cobra WS oils along with the painting medium and glazing medium and thought that this might be a good way to test them. I found a DVD at the library of 12 seascapes by Bob Ross. I chose my favorite and here is the process.



I started by painting over an old 16 x 20 with white gesso (I should have sanded it but I didn't) and then applied a layer of pale cobalt blue over it. Once it was dried, I applied an oval cutout I had made from contact paper and applied it to the perimeter after the acrylics were dried the next day. Normally, I would apply a thin film of walnut oil to the exposed area, but I wanted to stick completely with the Cobra products.

The titanium white was very thick as if the tube had not been shut tight. I thinned it with water and painting medium to get an initial oil film over the gesso. It didn't go real well, but a second less diluted layer worked better. Next time I will definitely still use the walnut oil film first.

I used only pyrrole deep red, cobalt blue (ultramarine), permanent yellow light and titanium white for all the colors in the sky and later produced varying browns using the same colors.

The next day I worked on the water and waves. I used the paint straight from the tubes for the majority of this layer. I held off on the highlighting.


Making the ripples with a palette knife took a few tries. Thank goodness, I had the video to watch Bob's hand position and movement to accomplish them.

On the third day, I did the foreground mixing the same three colors to get the different shades. The only time I used something different was for the green. I had gotten the Cobra Sap Green and wanted to give that a try. I varied it with the red and yellow as needed. Highlights and fine lines were made using additional painting medium to make them fatter.



One of the issues I have had with oils, has been breathing problems from the linseed and solvents. Some WS oil brands have also bothered me because of the linseed oil in them. The Cobras did not bother me and are made with a vegetable oil that I apparently can tolerate.

Other than the white being a little thick and sticky when thinned with water, the colors were vibrant, rich in pigment so very little had to be used to get the colors I wanted, and they had a creamy feel to them as I applied them. I did not try the glazing medium at all, but once the painting is drier, I may glaze over some of the water with the permanent green deep to give it more of the blue green color of the Florida coast.

Judy

Looks great Judy! I'm glad to hear that the Cobra are working for you.

Judy, the painting is just lovely! I'm so glad that you were able to find a way to keep painting with WMOs. I love the Cobra WMOs also, but was surprised that you had some trouble with the Titanium White. I have Lukas Berlin Tit. White, W/N Artisan Tit. White, and Cobra Tit. White. I recently tested the three on a sheet of paper to check for opaqueness, and easiest to handle, and found the Cobra Tit. White the easiest to apply. Guess it depends on individuals, and you've had the Holbiens which I've never tried also.
Anyway, Congratulations.

Dayle

Thanks Dayle for the feedback on the white. I think that the tube may not have been completely closed when I got it because there was a plug of hard white that pulled out with the cap. It became easier to work with as I used more of the tube.

I'm not sure what I did with the mixing of water and painting medium to make it tacky. I always had similar problems with WN so I got in the habit of filming the acrylic under painting first with walnut oil and then starting to apply the WMO's. That got rid of the problem. I'm going to do another painting using the walnut oil film and then trying to thin the white down with water and applying it. What i am trying to accomplish is something similar to the "liquid white" that Bob Ross always used, but doing it with WMO's. Any suggestions from anyone on that would be greatly appreciated. I'm anxious to try another one since the cobras seem to be the most tolerable ones for me.

BTW: Are you up and running again? I sure hope so.

Judy