Painting Process: "Sea King"

This painting was inspired by a photo I took with an underwater camera while snorkeling in Hawaii. I liked several things about this photo I took, but wanted to change several things.

First, I wanted to make the background water much more dynamic and vibrant.

I also wanted to change the expression on the turtle, by giving him more character and liveliness with a highlight in his eyes to bring him to life, and making him overall feel less grumpy and more curious.

And finally I wanted to give the turtle itself much more vibrancy, by adding in bright colors to bring the browns of the shell to life.

Photo Credit: me

It all starts as a sketch of the turtle, which in this case I used a repurposed canvas that already had been used for another piece prior. In the sketch I aim to capture the general form of the turtle that can serve as a guideline when I paint, but I don’t get too caught up in the detail.

The next step is to add in a base coat on the background, with the main goal to capture and color I want and fill in all the blank space.

Then I go over my base background with a palette knife and build up texture and depth. I start by adding in the darker shadow colors, and then go over the top with brighter highlights - forming a gradient going lighter up to the top. I continually evaluate and adjust until I reach a background that I like.

As I’m starting to like the water, I move on to adding in the base coats of brown on the turtle itself.

I continue to expand the coats of brown, adding more layers and depth with each coat, and slowly the turtle begins to come to life.

I refine details in the shell and flippers to help bring it to life.

Once I’ve got the several layers of brown and detail across the whole turtle, I add in touches of vibrant blues, greens, and violets to make it pop.

And finally it’s finished!

Check out this video below to watch the process come to life on this painting.

Prints of “Sea King” are available in my Etsy shop as canvas, gicleé paper prints, and greeting cards.