How to Paint a Beach with Acrylics

Steps

1. 1. Block In the Sky

   Start at the very top with your flat brush and a clear blue. Pull the color side to side across the top third of the canvas, keeping the strokes flat and even.

   Tip: Watch this step and keep the brush loaded so the blue stays smooth. Dry patches are hard to fix once the paint sets.

   

2. 2. Add the Clouds

   While the sky is still damp, pick up white on a smaller brush and dab in cloud shapes. Keep them soft and uneven, wider near the top and thinning toward the horizon.

   Tip: Watch this step to see how she stipples the white rather than painting solid blobs. Less paint reads as more realistic cloud.

   

3. 3. Set the Horizon and Distant Water

   Mark a straight horizon line a little above the middle of the canvas. Painter's tape along the edges keeps the line crisp.

   Tip: Watch this step and keep your horizon dead level. A tilted horizon is the fastest way to make a seascape look off.

   

4. 4. Layer the Teal Ocean Bands

   Now build the water in horizontal bands. Mix teal and turquoise from your blue, green and a touch of white, then paint each band a shade lighter as you move down from the horizon toward the sand.

   Tip: Watch this step to catch the color shift from deep blue to bright turquoise. That gradient is what sells the shallow water.

   

5. 5. Paint the Breaking Waves

   Switch to a small brush and white. Add rows of foam where the waves break, curving them gently to follow the water.

   Tip: Watch this step and vary the wave sizes. Evenly spaced identical waves look fake, so let them stagger.

   

6. 6. Paint the Wet Sand

   Fill the bottom of the canvas with a warm brown for the beach. Mix a little yellow ochre into the brown to keep it from going muddy.

   Tip: Watch this step to see the wet-sand color sitting darker than the dry beach. That contrast makes the shore look damp.

   

7. 7. Detail the Shoreline Foam

   This is where the painting comes alive. Load white on your detail brush and lay foam along the curved waterline where the sea washes up the sand.

   Tip: Watch this step and use an almost-dry brush for the foam. Too much water and the bubbles run together into a flat edge.

   

8. 8. Final Details and Footprints

   Step back and finish the small touches. Press a couple of footprint shapes into the dry sand with the tip of your brush handle or a small round brush, trailing them up the beach.

   Tip: Watch this step for the footprint trick. Small dark dents in the sand read as prints from a distance.