How to Paint Water - Oil Painting Demonstration

In this video I paint water and discuss some of the challenges that come up when doing so.

For more about the paint that I use visit:

[nataliesharples]

It's.comforting to me that even you can be unhappy with your work one day and look at it with fresh eyes the next day and like it ... Seems to be a common thing with artists.

[willowrunningwater]

This is great and you make it simple. I'm a marine painter and you have taken the hard mystery out of painting and made it so comprehensible to painters. thank you for doing this. What you do is a gift to the art world.

[ToreWisdom]

One of the most skilled artist here on You Tube and a great color teacher.

[stallgastgivargarden]

I absolutely love your videos. You are very good at breaking the painting process down into smaller, comprehensible pieces. I wish I'd had teachers such as you, I truly do. I found this channel through a simple google-search without ever expecting there would be someone on Youtube to teach me a little bit of everything I never knew I didn't know, from colour theory to methods of painting, from the contents of oil paints to ways of setting up a studio. It is an artist's toolbox holding everything a person needs to either start or progress with oil painting, and it has not only inspired me to paint, but also made me believe I could do so much more than I ever dared dream. From the bottom of my heart: Thank you.

[bernardorocha]

The beauty of creating art is making it look like it was made with ease and you sir, are a master at breaking down the process of painting, I take my hat off!. I'm so glad that I understand English so I'm blessed with these wonderful art lessons.

[lisengel]

Its a great choice of water- for me perfectly showing that the realistic and the abstract always exist at the same moment and that rhythms is the feeling of nature - its is very beautifull and very inspiring. The more I watched it, the more I could feel the soft rhythms of the water

[Celticslovr]

Thank you! I was struggling trying to paint the lake in a XMas gift I'm painting.
NICE paints, too. SO smooth and easy to mix!

[anitadavis]

Once again and as always your camera set up, your demonstration AND your detailed ( but not too detailed) explanations are wonderful. Water is so weird, It’s soft with hard edges but colors close to each other. It’s hard but soft. Thank you. Love it. I’m Painting right now with Geneva paint. I like them!

[christianshipley]

Brother you nailed it. You can never judge your on work. Some paintings of done that I wanted to destroy so no one would ever see them and have someone in my family say how good it was. And some that I thought were pretty good only to have people pick em apart. Thank God art is subjective

[daviller]

Mark, thank you for your videos. They have helped me make so much progress in my painting and have certainly improved my confidence. Keep posting them. I hope to some day be in your area to thank you personally.

[xcesarimpx]

we live in grate times where masters like him, allows us, through technology in comfort of our home, learn how to also paint correctly like the old masters or just improving your technic in general,

[snowmeltstudiosPNW]

Yes please! A video on scale and how to scale well would be wonderful. ❤️🎨

[TTundragrizzly]

When painting water it is important to think what makes sense. Such as the highest highlight is the flattest part of the water, because that said highlight is direct reflection of the sky. Everything else on the water is shadow due to the increasing verticality of the waves. The bigger the wave, the more reflective lights and moreso the more transparency through the waves. Just think what you're doing and the movements of the water.

[michaelellsworth]

Mr. Mark Hope you don't mind me calling you Mark? when it comes to water to me it's very much like drawing glass.. it's easy to over do it instead of just using broader strokes like Sargent loading up the brush stepping back make your calculation and then moving in. Also trying to recreate water or glass without any surroundings can be challenging..
I want to thank you for taking the time to make these videos much like Bob Ross your a huge help with your instructions

[carolesanetti]

So many videos of painting wild ocean water, this is perfect for painting ponds and lakes! Thank you so much !!

[fayee]

Bless your heart. I have broke my habit years ago of mixing my paint with a brush. This way of painting dirties up all your colors. Therefore when you need some clean color you have to put out more paint, and this matter of mixing always wasted paint. That is one of my pet peeves I can't hardly stand to watch somebody makes paint with a brush. LOL I know it's my problem. Thank you for the lesson, I find it very helpful.

[dawnemile]

Looks good. I took a long time trying to paint water and this helped a lot.

[sujanithtottempudi]

Most interesting aspect of this painting is doing in minimal very very

[OhLuckyMan]

Thank you Mark. I've been following your site for a while now, and am just mid way thru my third painting. It is a seaside cove, and this video demonstrated clearly how to paint water without layering. The first time did not work out too sell, as I basically scumbled the entire water portion of the painting. This time I did it your way, and it looks hugely better. Thank you.

[SmillyDonut]

This is such a wonderful and helpful painting and I, for one, am glad you decided to share it with us. Especially because of your uncertainty, which is something we all struggle with.