Painting Seascapes – Making The Scenery Look Bigger

This week, we dive deeper into painting seascapes and other big sceneries. In spring, I thought my painting Atlantis was already finished, but after seeing the ship paintings in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in May, I realized that I had made my seascape painting too simple and small-scale, and went back to working on it. Now it’s finished!

Painting a Bigger Sea

Despite the size of the canvas, you can make the seascape or any scenery look larger by adjusting the composition and the size of the brushstrokes. Compare the finished version with the one below!

When you want to make a seascape look bigger, add tiny strokes, especially near the horizon, and adjust both left and right edges so that it looks like the seascape continues outside the painting.

The changes may look small when you look at the small photos, but in reality, they make a big difference. Here’s a close-up photo of before and after.

There are so many details that it was easier to make a short video instead of sharing more pics.

Seascapes don’t have to be boring and all blue. They can include all kinds of events and creatures, even buildings like in my painting.

A Series of Big Sceneries in Progress

It’s been a hot July in Finland, and my little studio is really warm in the afternoon. But I have big canvases in a queue, and the next one is already in progress.

New Course Is Coming Up!

Painting seascapes and other sceneries is exciting, but as you know, I also love flowers. I will be running a new watercolor course called Wild Garden from 22nd September to 14th November. Here’s a small teaser pic …

The early-bird sale of Wild Garden will start next week, so stay tuned!