Polly Seip

Polly Seip is a contemporary painter based in CT, in the US.
I love the use of wide format in these works, and the exploration of the changing effects of light on the sea.
Here's a link to her studio blog: pollyseipfineart.blogspot.com

Here's another example of a wide format composition, by the British painter Frederick William Hayes. This is from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Criccieth, Wales, late 19th century.

People on the Beach

Elihu Veder, Greek Girls Bathing.
Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer, A Beach Stroll.
Gabriel-Charles Deneux, Les peintres de retour du Mont Saint-Michel.
Frederick A Bridgman, Seaweed Gatherers.
Thomas Cooper Gotch, The Sand Bar.
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These painters have used figures to great effect in enlivening their beachscapes. Rods and pitchforks carried by the figures add diagonal linear elements. Clothing is also an opportunity to introduce some red or dark accents to contrast with the neutral coloured surf and sand.

Horses

Rowland Wheelwright, Summertime, 47 x 71 inches
Rowland Wheelwright, The Enchanted Shore

Lucy Kemp-Welch, Horses Bathing in the Sea, 1900

Lucy Kemp-Welch, Sea Horses

The Bridgewater Sea Piece

Possibly my favourite marine painting, J.M.W. Turner's Dutch Boats in a Gale (the Bridgewater Sea Piece), 1801, was painted as a pendant (companion piece hanging below) to a similar scene by Willem van de Velde for the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater. See below:

Turner's application of oil paint became increasing transparent and washy as he matured, and his oils began to look more and more like watercolours. This fluidity allowed him to create wonderfully subtle and luminous atmospheric effects.

The Fighting Temeraire, 1839

The Silver Surface

detail






Though born in Paris in 1873, Amedee Julien Marcel-Clement is best known for his scenes of boats along the coast of France.
To create an illusion of a silvery surface, he used a variety of cool greys, broken up by creams and whites, over a warm ground.
Once he found an effect that worked for him, he returned to it many times.
The repetition of similar elements in different paintings suggests that these are studio works constructed from sketches, rather than exact recordings of actual scenes executed on site. However the freshness and energy of the sketches survive in the final works.

Source of images: Burlington Paintings

Andrew Tischler

Based in Western Australia, Andrew Tischler states on his website that, like many sea and landscape painters, he finds the reference photos he takes on site don't capture the inspirational feeling of standing before the subject. He also makes use of field sketches, and refers to several photos of the scene, rather than just one. This makes it easier to pull out the essential qualities of the place.

The most spectacular part of the WA coastline is at its the southern end.

Kemper Art Museum

Childe Hassam, Diamond Cove, Isle of Shoals, 1908.
William Trost Richards, Gathering Cold, c.1885
Two marines from the collection of the Kemper Art Museum, St Louis.