How to Paint: A Beach Scene

I did some painting for Mother's Day gifts recently and I thought I'd share a step by step tutorial so if you want, you can achieve the same look.  I used terra cotta pots for my canvas but many different surfaces will do; paper, vases, bags or...even actual canvas 😁

This post highlights the beach scene that I did, but I'll have another soon with butterflies.  Enjoy!

Step 1 - Clear Coat

The first thing that I did was to spray the pot with a clear coat inside and out.  Terra cotta is water permeable, meaning that water can seep through the material.  I was concerned that once filled with soil, any plant that was watered could potentially allow moisture to flow through the sides of the pot and disrupt the painted design.

Step 2 - Paint the Sky

Using a sky blue paint, I coated the majority of the pot starting at the top.  I also painted a few inches of the inside as well, enough that only the blue color will show once soil is added.  

Tip:  Don't worry about making a perfect stopping line, adding the darker blue water in the next step will even everything out.

Step 3 - Add Waves

Flip your pot over and use a darker shade of blue to create your water (it's much easier to paint this section if the pot is inverted).  Again, don't worry about perfection.  Just create a lazy wavy line to represent your waves.

Step 4 - Add a Beach

Still inverted, I used a sandy beige to create my island beach.  I recommend lightly tracing your beach in pencil first, it makes painting in details much easier.

Note:  I decided to feature the palm tree scene on both sides of the pot so each of the following steps can be repeated.

Step 5 - Paint the Palm Trunk

If you look closely, you can see the pencil outlines of the palm tree that I sketched on top of the beach.  For this step use your choice of brown to fill in the trunk area.

Step 6 - Foliage

Make sure your trunk is all the way dry (😉) and then fill in your palm fronds.

Step 7 - Add Details

A bit of black can be used to detail the palm fronds and a touch of silver to add whitecap waves.  Nothing too perfect, just detail here and there as you see fit.  Don't forget to add another coat or two of clear coat though, to protect your finished design!

And there you have it, an easy to create beach scene 😎

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I hope you enjoyed this painting post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2018