Saturday, August 20, 2011

Seascape Oil Paintings Never Lose Impact

By Dorothy Dixon


Seascape oil paintings have never lost their popularity. Styles in art, as in fashion, come and go. But depicting water has always been the most inviting challenge to artists. For two centuries, artists have been busy trying to portray the effects of light, weather conditions and the ability to tame the sea.

Likewise, art patrons have always held a special affinity for seascapes. The Impressionists painted them in a variety of styles, the English watercolorists made seascapes their special affinity. Before the Impressionists, once painting was freed from religious subject matter, seascapes were the first thing artists chose to portray.

Seascapes are not one-dimensional subject matter. They can be about a harbor scene, nature in the form of rocks and rugged coastlines. They can be about people playing at the shore. Many artist specialize in portraying boats with the water as background. At times water plays the supporting role while everyday life is the starring role.

Birds and animals are often depicted. Some artists fill up the canvas with the details of life: sunbathers, dog walkers, swimmers. Illustrators use the sea as a backdrop for life while others use the sea for reasons more ephemeral.

Artists in the modern age may take a different modus operandi and go for minimalism. Using a monochromatic hue structure and few lines, they create the vastness and mystery of the sea. These seascapes are not about the details of life but about the mystical oneness of nature, removed from the concerns of everyday living.

Seascape oil paintings will never lose their appeal. Artists will never give up trying to depict this vast, surprising motif. Art collectors will never tire of looking at them on their walls. To look at a seascape is to feel the air, the movement, the light at a certain time of day. They invite you to contemplate the mystery of nature. Nothing is more mystical than the sea. Read more about: seascape oil paintings




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