I’ve been looking at ripples in water. They fascinate me. Yes, I love waves, sea foam, reflections but ripples… I was trying to imagine how I could paint them.

I went online to Unsplash.com and started looking at reference photos. This one fascinated me – how could I paint something like this?

Then I thought, how about something like a sea turtle swimming through the clear water with the ripples breaking as he passed? Another reference photo.

There was another reference photo I used but I can’t find now that showed ripples on the shore and had more direction than the one above. I love the colors and noted that only the top of the ripples/waves/whatever word works are the only real white areas.

My thought was to mask the very tops then lay down a light wash of Quin. Gold – it’s an ugly color to me but in a light wash, it looks like just a touch of sun (affiliate link).

I mask out an outline of the turtle – using the above but moving the head and limbs around a bit – and some ripples.

Here is the Quin Gold wash. Just a touch of sunlight.

When the gold wash was dry, I put down a layer of Cerulean Blue and Terre Verte . The shadow under the turtle and the deeper blue areas are Mayan Blue. Mayan is a “Primatek” color that is a very green blue and granulates like crazy. In the correct area, it looks great (affiliate links).

Check out the granulation.

In addition, after laying down the wash, I took a Q-Tip and went over a few areas around the masking fluid to lighten them up and in an effort to make them look more dimensional.

Removing the mask.

It’s OK for a first try at ripples. I go over them a little with a damp brush to soften the harsh edges, mask out the turtle and start giving him a paint.

Detail of the turtle – I am getting an area wet then dropping in Mayan Blue, Quin. Sienna and a little Jadeite. The colors all run together and the Mayan Blue granulates out into any wet area.

And here is the shell – painted the same way. Mostly I covered it with Mayan Blue then dribbled the sienna down the middle and around the edges, then going in with a little Jadeite.

Here it is a little closer. You can see all the separate colors.

After the head was done and all was dry, I removed the mask and go over the mask lines with a wet brush to soften them.

I went ahead and signed this one – in watercolor – as it was so delicate that I did not want the signature to dominate.

Then I looked at it. And looked at it… should the head be facing down? Have I made a terrible mistake? I posted this on my FB page with the head up, the head down, landscape and portrait and this one won. I kinda agree. I went over the signature with a Q-tip and signed again… and it’s a done deal.

Now, one thing I learned from this is I did another painting after this with ripples – practicing water some more – using the same colors and it turned out… limp and dull. The difference is I did not do the undercoat of Quin Gold. You can’t really see it here but it makes a huge difference in the final product.

I try to learn from every painting and this one taught me the magic of a light background wash under the final painting.

So whatda’ think? Did I chose the right orientation?