Summer Squall

Light enters from the upper left, striking the white foam and sand in the foreground while leaving the offshore waves in deep shadow. The composition anchors on a cluster of dark, striated rocks in the immediate foreground—these are your visual stopping point and the painting's gravitational center. Behind them, churning waves with white crests move from left to right across the middle distance, and the eye travels upward through them toward a brooding, greenish-gray sky where a single dark bird cuts across near the top. The entire scene tilts slightly, with the horizon line higher on the right, which creates compositional tension.

Your darkest darks live in two places: the deep brown rocks in the foreground and the near-black troughs between waves in the middle distance. The lightest lights are reserved for the white foam caps and the cream-colored sand around the rocks. Between these extremes sits a crucial middle value band—the greenish-gray water and sky that unifies most of the composition. When you squint, you see three clear zones: light foreground (rocks and sand), dark water (middle), and muted sky (top).

• #e5ece7

  Titanium White with a touch of Yellow Ochre

  Foam crests on the large wave, the brightest sand around the rocks, and highlights catching the wave faces

• #27251e

  Prussian Blue mixed with Burnt Umber and a hint of black

  The deepest shadows in the rock formation and the darkest wave troughs

• #484a3b

  Payne's Gray with Prussian Blue and Yellow Ochre

  The dominant mid-tone water throughout the middle distance and the green-tinted storm clouds

• #bcbeb8

  Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, and a touch of Payne's Gray

  The transitional sand tones and lighter undersides of wave faces

• #626456

  Burnt Umber, Prussian Blue, and Yellow Ochre in equal measure

  The striations and weathered texture on the rocks, and the darker sand shadows

Edges here are intentionally varied: the rocks have hard, defined edges where they meet the foam, but the wave faces dissolve into soft, broken strokes as they recede. The foam itself is rendered with sharp, directional marks that follow the water's movement—you'll see horizontal dashes of white layered over darker water. The sky is loose and atmospheric, with visible brushstrokes that blend horizontally, while the rocks demand more deliberate, structural mark-making that respects their geological planes.

1. 01

   Establish the horizon and major divisions

   Lightly sketch the horizon line—it runs roughly through the middle-upper third of the composition, slightly higher on the right. Mark the foreground rock cluster as a dark mass below, and indicate the approximate wave positions with light horizontal guidelines. Use a thin mix of Payne's Gray and Prussian Blue on a small round brush to place these reference lines.

2. 02

   Block in the sky and establish atmospheric tone

   Mix a muted greenish-gray using Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre, and Payne's Gray. Using a large flat brush, loosely fill the entire upper two-thirds, working around your horizon line. Leave it broken and uneven—don't blend to smoothness. The sky should feel heavier and more turbulent on the left side where the storm clouds gather darkest.

3. 03

   Lay in the water's dominant value

   Use the same greenish-gray from the sky, but push it slightly darker by adding more Prussian Blue and Burnt Umber. Block in all the water between the horizon and the foreground rocks with a flat brush, working in horizontal strokes. This middle-tone water is your anchor—everything else will relate to it. Don't worry about waves yet; you're just establishing the base.

4. 04

   Build the rock structure and shadow

   Mix your darkest dark: Prussian Blue, Burnt Umber, and a touch of black. Using a medium round brush, carefully paint the rock cluster in the foreground, respecting the visible striations and planes you see. Note how the rocks have a warm brown tone on their upper surfaces (add Yellow Ochre to your dark mix for these faces) and deeper, cooler shadows in the crevices. Build this deliberately—the rocks are your anchor point and must feel solid.

5. 05

   Define the wave structure and white foam

   Mix a pale but slightly warm white using Titanium White with just a touch of Yellow Ochre. With a small round brush, paint the prominent white foam line that crests across the large wave in the middle distance—use short, directional dashes that follow the wave's energy. Then add white highlights to the face of the nearest wave, the crest of the wave behind it, and scatter smaller foam marks across the darker water. Keep edges sharp where foam meets dark water.

6. 06

   Model the wave faces and create dimensionality

   Use a mix of Prussian Blue and Payne's Gray (no brown) for the cooler, sunlit wave faces; this creates contrast with the warm-toned rocks. Paint the visible wave faces with diagonal strokes that suggest their curved surfaces. Notice the greenish cast in the wave transparencies—add a touch of Yellow Ochre to your blue-gray mix for these zones. The waves should feel three-dimensional, receding away from the viewer.

7. 07

   Soften and integrate the water surfaces

   Step back and assess. Using a flat brush with a dry-ish mix of your water tones, gently blur some edges where foam meets darker water, but preserve hard edges in key places (around the main foam crest). Add darker troughs between waves using very dark green-gray. The water should feel turbulent but readable—not overworked.

8. 08

   Refine the foreground sand and surrounding light

   Paint the sand around and between the rocks with a warm cream tone—Titanium White with Yellow Ochre and a whisper of Burnt Umber. Make this lighter than the water but darker than pure white foam. Use a small round brush to work around the rock edges, letting some white foam splash over the rocks' upper surfaces. This creates the sense of water action at the shore.

9. 09

   Final atmosphere and the distant bird

   Add the small dark bird silhouette in the upper right sky using a tiny round brush and very dark gray (Payne's Gray with a touch of black). Then step back: add final accent darks in the deepest rock crevices and water troughs if needed. Soften the sky slightly with a dry brush to suggest wind and storm movement. The painting is complete when the rocks feel weighty, the foam crests sing out, and the entire scene feels alive with movement.

• Overblending the water—this painting's power comes from visible, directional brushstrokes. Resist the urge to smooth everything. The water should read as turbulent, not polished.
• Making the rocks too uniform in color. These have real geological complexity: warm brown highlights on top, cool dark shadows in crevices, and visible striations that suggest layered stone. Treat them architecturally, not as a blob.
• Lighting the foam inconsistently. The foam is caught in strong directional light from the upper left. All foam casts shadows where it folds or recedes—pure white is reserved for the crests and spray, not every bit of white water.
• Losing the atmosphere in the sky and water. The greenish-gray tone is not a neutral gray—it's full of color and feeling. Keep it slightly warm (Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber notes) in some passages and cool (Prussian Blue) in others so it vibrates.
• Placing the bird too prominently or too small. It's a tiny accent—a gesture, not a detail. It should read as a dark speck from a normal viewing distance, adding drama without dominating.

beginner friendliness

value contrast

palette complexity

compositional simplicity

brushwork visibility