Oil Painting of a Sailboat Part 1

This is a color study demonstration to find the color balance for this oil painting of a sailboat. Before I start this color study painting, I already finished a value study to find the value balance. As I consider this is another step in the whole painting experiment before starting the final painting on a larger canvas, the function of this step is to search for the color balance and composition.

First, I mark the space for each major element with a color pencil on this 8-in by 10-in canvas panel. I am going to use a complimentary color scheme of blue and orange in this painting. I start with a cool monochromatic color, blue, for the water area and then for the sky. From my value study exercise, I already had an idea on the darkness and lightness of each major area and the contrast among them. The water area is much darker than the sky area. I also apply the blue color to the shadow area in the sails.

In the next step, I will work on the island. Since I only use the blue color, the painting looks overwhelmingly cool. I am going to introduce a warm color to the last major shape, the island, to balance the painting. I use the thinner to clean my brush. I clean the brush every time when I switch to different color. Then, I mix an orange color and start putting it into the island area. I am adding some light shapes and brown color for the shadow areas in the island.

After that, I use white color to reform the shapes of the sails. This is the step of applying the first round and also the base layer of colors to the painting.