Watercolour Sailboat Abstract

A style all his own

On sunny days and cold days Bill Strain would rather be painting. A small sun room on the corner of his home provides a great view of the lake's edge, which Strain uses as inspiration for his art.

Lately he finds he has more time to spend painting the landscapes and still life around him. 

"When you work for a living, it's hard to paint all the time," said Strain. "Now that I'm retired I have plenty of time to devote to my hobby."

He can't remember when he started painting. At 69 years-old, Strain said it's something he has always done.

"I've studied under different artists, some in Birmingham, some in Huntsville, others right here in Scottsboro," he said. "I began painting seriously seven years ago when I retired."

Since that time the walls of his home have filled up with paintings he has finished. 

Some of those paintings are of photographs he stumbles upon or takes himself. Others are his own take on popular art forms, like faceless angels. Other times he might hang up a painting of a seagull sitting in the Gulf or a pelican dipping in the ocean for fish. In the sun room and garage are plastic grey tubs full of paintings Strain hopes to sell, sharing his perspective on life with other people. 

"I've finished a lot of paintings," he said.

Strain's artwork will be featured this weekend at the annual Three Arts Club's Art in the Park event. The event lasts all day at King Caldwell Park in Scottsboro. Other artists like Strain will feature their works and have some items for sell during the event.

Strain has missed the past two years Art Sunday has been held due to health problems.This year, however, the strain has said he is healthy and ready to share his love of art with other community members.

"This event is an excellent time for everyone to come and learn about different artists," he said.

Strain grew up in Brewton, and moved to Scottsboro in the early 1970s with his wife Barbara. Before withdrawing, the strain has been working in the chemical division of PPG.

How to Paint Sparkling Ocean – Sea Waves in watercolors – Cats and ...

Submitted on 2009/07/31 at 5:26pm

I’m sure there aren’t any I would watch – but that’s because it would be easier to get out some paint and play with it until it does what I want. Today, there isn’t a dvd that I’ve made about creating ocean waves in watercolor, however try this -

Imagine what the finished piece will be and the moment that you want to capture.

Everywhere there is to be sparkle, foam or waves – don’t put any paint there. Don’t wet the entire watercolor paper, but instead paint with limited areas of wetness across the page from side to side where the foam, sparkle and froth of the waves will not be.

Sounds pretty backwards, doesn’t it? In essence, paint everything in deep hues where the sea is getting deeper away from the viewer until it nears the horizon while leaving the irregular shapes of the wave crests near the viewer and where there are hints of building waves in the middle behind the detailed areas in the foreground.

There is a dry brush technique that works great for sparkle in watercolor – try it first on a separate piece of watercolor paper. Fill the dry paintbrush (stiff bristles have one set of effects, soft bristles have a different look done this way) with paint by gently, lightly dragging it across the top of the paint so it doesn’t fill the bristles completely. Then pull the color across the page drifting it across the surface in one smooth motion. Each swipe across the surface will fill in some of the color under the sparkle. This isn’t white paint in the brush, although you can do that with acrylics or oil paints.

For watercolors, the paper provides the only pure white in the painting, so when the sparkle happens – it is literally the paper showing through the other colors that convey visual information beneath the foam, the spray, the breaking wave froth, and the sparkly little bits that to the viewer seem to be on top of the water. It is easy to fill the brush with several colors of the water and sand to drag across the paper in front of a breaking wave to convey the sparkly foam in the shallows where we would splash and dig our toes into the wet sand.

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