Tropical Sunset. Painting #16. My First Seascape Oil Painting.

July 23, 2018

“You’ll never believe what you can do till you get in there and try it.” – Bob Ross

Tropical Sunset is my 16th oil painting. Palm trees sway in the warm breeze in this sunny exotic little ocean scene. It was my first attempt at a seascape oil painting.

Let’s Get Started

This post is about my version of Tropical Sunset by Bob Ross. First, I’ll talk about the inspiration for this painting. When I talk about inspiration in this blog, it will normally be why I chose a certain subject or Bob Ross episode to follow. Then, I will go over the colors and equipment I used and that you will need if you want to try your hand at it or something similar. Next, I will expound a bit about my process. Finally, I’ll wrap up with some lessons that I learned from painting this picture and things I could have done better or wished I had known. So join me on this trip down memory lane as I recap my 16th oil painting.

The Inspiration

The inspiration for Tropical Sunset was Joy of Painting episode S12E9. I felt it was time to try my hand at a seascape. This episode seemed like a good one to try for my first time because it didn’t take as much prep work as some others.

Materials

Here are the colors and equipment I used to paint Tropical Seascape. All of the colors are included with the Bob Ross Master Paint Set.

Colors

Mediums

Equipment

For more items and materials you may need, check out my Getting Started page.

Before We Begin/Medium Application

Tropical Sunset is prepared a bit differently than you normally see in Bob Ross paintings. This painting requires two different mediums. It requires Liquid White and Liquid Clear. The white is applied on the top part of the canvas where the sky would be. Before we begin applying medium, it’s a good idea to place a piece of masking tape about two thirds down the canvas. That will give us a nice, straight horizon line. First we’ll start with the liquid white.

Liquid White

How to apply liquid white. The first thing to do with any Bob Ross painting is to apply the liquid hwite. The trick is to not apply too much. Having the right amount of medium on the canvas will help lighten your value in the sky and aid in blending everything together.

I learned that the best way to apply the liquid white is to dip your brush into the white then dab it all over the canvas. After you’ve dabbed it, then you start to spread it around. However, you don’t paint it on like you’re painting a fence. With this medium, you have to spread it around and scrub it in. Really get tough with it. Don’t worry, you’re not going to hurt your brush.

Make sure the medium is spread evenly. To do this, I use the light of the room or outdoors. For example, I look at the canvas at different angles to pick out dry spots. To check if you have applied the right amount, lightly press your fingers on different spots on the canvas. You should be able to see your fingerprint. If you can’t, then you’ve put too much on. Don’t worry. Simply take a paper towel and lightly wipe the canvas. The liquid white you need will remain on the surface.

Liquid Clear

Below the tape is where you want to apply the liquid clear. Applying Liquid Clear is much like applying Liquid White. The trick is to not apply too much. You really don’t need a lot. Bob once said on his show that one jar of Liquid Clear will last you a lifetime. He’s not wrong! I still have the first jar I bought nearly 4 years ago. Having the right amount of medium on the canvas will aid in blending everything together.

The best way to apply the Liquid Clear is to dip your brush into the medium then dab it all over the area below the tape. After you’ve dabbed it, then you start to spread it around. But, you don’t paint it on like you’re painting a fence. With this medium, you have to spread it around and scrub it in. Really get tough with it. Don’t worry, you’re not going to hurt your brush.

Make sure the medium is spread evenly. To do this, I use the light of the room or outdoors. For example, I look at the canvas at different angles to pick out dry spots. Remember, you don’t need a lot of medium. Once it’s completely covered, take a dry brush or a shop towel and lightly wipe the surface. The medium you need should remain on the surface.

How I Painted This Painting and Lessons Learned

Sky

The Tropical Sunset sky is a colorful one. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I chose to paint it.

It starts off with some yellow about a third of the way down and goes on up to the top. Without washing the brush, bright red is added next and starts at the top and blends into the yellow. The yellow on the brush will soften the brightness of the red you just loaded and the blending will make a nice soft orange color.

After washing the brush and beating the devil out of it I then mixed a bit of Alizarin Crimson and Phthalo Blue together. You definitely want more crimson than blue because we’re going right up next to the yellow in the sky. If you have it more blue then you risk having a green sky. Following the purple area, I went right into the blue without washing the brush as the blue is so strong it will overtake any residue you have on the brush. This is why when mixing a purpled sort of color, it takes more crimson than blue in the mixture.

The clouds in this sky couldn’t be easier! I simply took a little roll of paint on the knife and scrub in some streaky clouds. Then gently wisped them with the two inch brush. How easy is that!?

Water

Tropical Sunset was the first painting in which I had the opportunity to use liquid clear on a plain white canvas. All the previous paintings I had done up to this point had liquid white or I added liquid clear to a base color on a black canvas. What happens is that the colors become diluted by the white. With the liquid clear on a white canvas, you see the true value of the color.

When the sky is done, it’s time to remove the masking tape. In this small area, there is no medium. It’s a dry canvas. This is where you start filling in the water color. I had to have a steady hand to make sure I didn’t break that hard line. I was able to do that by placing the brush well below the line and slowly working up and scrubbing in the paint. The rest is basically filling in color up to the wave line that I sketched in.

Bob uses that dark purple color then goes into more blue and fills in the canvas up to the wave line. However, you can use whatever color you want. Personally, I always love adding a bit of Phthalo Green to a sea color. On the other hand, I think the reason Bob uses that purple color is to give the water a bit of sky reflection.

Waves

This next section I’ll talk a little bit about the waves, near and far.

Starting straight in back wave indications with the knife were rather simple. It was simple straight lines that I had to start slightly angling to match the beach angle. That could be a bit daunting but try not to over think it if you attempt it. Adding a little bit of highlight on top of those knife waves, ever so lightly added a game changing sparkle.

For blending the waves back, I used a rocking motion but started very slowly until I got the motion down. That’s a good tip to use when you learn any new brush stroke. Even try it on a scrap piece of paper, cardboard or canvas. Adding some light color adds light and shadow you would see at the beach

The eye of the wave is probably the most intimidating part. I simply followed Bob’s guidance. He does a good job of demonstrating with close up shots. I had to pause the video a couple times to make sure I got it right. I think I did a pretty decent job. Careful when blending with 2” brush. You only need to use the corner.

Adding the crashing effects got a little messy. To combat this, wipe off the brush and reload every couple strokes. This ensures the light color remains, providing that critical highlight value. One thing I wish I did differently was spend a bit more time on the foam effects/patterns. I was simply following along with the video so I didn’t take my time to put in a bit more detail. All those little details make a world of difference and they’re not hard to do!

Shoreline

The shore line was pretty simple to put in. This painting taught me a color mixture that I’ve since used hundreds of times. The dark sienna/yellow ochre mix makes the perfect sand color. Add white to get your desired tonal value. The palm trees were easier than I thought. The trunks are made like any other tree. In this case, like Bob, I used the knife. The palm leaves are made using the fan brush with thin downed black. You can use any color with this technique but the black was used because the trees were intended to have a silhouette effect.

Final Thoughts

Tropical Sunset is not very difficult and is a great one to follow for a first seascape painting attempt. It will really teach you a lot about color, value, light, and shadow. It will also give you practice with the filbert brush. I had a lot of fun with it and was quite pleased with how it turned out. Like I mentioned earlier, the only thing I wish I would have done was put more time into the foamy areas with the fan brush and liner brush.

I hope you enjoy this painting. Give it a shot yourself then share a link to a photo of your rendition. Have a question? Comment below. Subscribe to my blog to stay up to date and be notified when a new post is live and learn more about the Bob Ross method and how far it can take you as a new artist. This painting ended up as a gift to a friend. If you want to see more of my work or see what’s for sale, check out my Art Store to see other paintings available. You can also follow me on all my social media sites.

Happy Painting!