Neil Taylor - Australian

The Other End of the Beach, Acrylic

The subtle blending required for the smooth tonal gradation in the sand is easier to achieve in oils than in fast-drying acrylics, but mediums are availble to extend the drying time.

Arthur Streeton - Australian

Banksias Bend over the Bay, 20 x 66 cm

This looks like a view of Sydney Harbour.

Sorolla - Spanish

Taking out the Boat


Mending the Sail, 1904

Evan Wilson - American

Black Point, 24 x 18 inches

The cliff mass takes up most of the image area, so there is no need for a counterbalancing object in the sea, such as a rock or a boat. Other things used as counterbalances to cliffs are: clouds (especially heavy, dark storm clouds), human figures, a large, well defined wave, a sheet of white spray. They need not be large.

Albert Bierstadt - German American

Entrance to the Golden Gate, 16 x 22 inches

In each of these works Bierstadt has included a rock to the left of the painting, as a counterbalance to the weight of the cliff on the right.

Matthew Cornell

Adrift, 7 x 10 inches

Before you reach for that tube of "sea-colour" oil paint, remember: water is not blue. Water is colourless (unless it contains sediment or algae). Only the reflection of the sky on the water's surface is blue (and only if the sky happens to be blue). A painter must learn to unlearn conditioning, ingrained since childhood, about the colours of things.

Walt Kuhn - American

Ocean Cliffs, 1914, 24.75 x 29 inches
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The cliffs are nearly far enough to the right of the composition to require some counterbalancing object on the left. This nearness to a point of imbalance gives the image a modernist edginess that works with the subject matter of stark cliffs. The light tones and colours of the cliffs, which are similar to those in the sea and sky, lessen their visual weight so that the small area of contrasting tones in the lower left corner is enough to act as a counterbalance.

Louis Comfort Tiffany 1848-1933 American

Pushing off the Boat, Sea Bright, New Jersey

Jean-Leon Gerome - French

Polyphemus



Jean-Léon Gérôme, Solitude

John P. Osborne

Along the Coast, 40 x 60 inches

Frederick Schafer

Point Bonita, 13.77 x 24 inches

Edward Minoff - American

Poseidon's Fury, 44 x 64 inches, 2008

Inspired by the monumental oil landscapes of the 19th century, Edward Minoff produced some large scale seascapes. Upscaling requires a different way of working. Read about the process he used here:

http://www.edwardminoff.com/synthesis.html

Anthony Davis - American

Bermuda Bound, pastel, 24 x 36 inches


Anatomy of a Wave, pastel, 6 x 12 inches

See more at http://www.anthonysgallery.com/

William Duffy

Pleasant Bay Nocturne - 14 x 18 inches

Monet

detail

The Beach at Honfleur

Ludolf Bakhuisen

Ludolf Bakhuisen, A Beach Scene with Fishermen

detail

Walter Wright - New Zealand

The Gap, Piha, 114 x 180 cm

Forrest Rodts - American

Light Reflection - 12 x 24 inches

Akseli Gallen-Kallela - Finnish 1865-1931

Lake Keitele

This looks like a freshwater lake, but the depiction of the water surface is applicable to marine painting. The mirror-like plane of the lake's surface is broken by bands where the wind has brushed it. Sky and land are limited to a narrow strip at the top of the picture, emphasising the water as subject. Gallen-Kallela may have been influenced by Klimt's near abstract views of the Attersee: http://marineoilpaintings.blogspot.com/2009/06/gustav-klimt-austrian-1862-1918.html
Or vice versa.

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detail

Peter E. Poskas - American 1969-

Sundown, Monheghan, oil on panel, 9.5 x 12 .25 inches