How to Paint a Beach Scene | Acrylic Seascape Painting Tutorial

Learn how to paint a beach scene using acrylics in this painting tutorial. Artist Ashley Krieger is traveling and painting in all 50 U.S. states. Today she takes you to Maine to capture the Seascape of Sandy Beach at Acadia National Park, Maine.  I hope you enjoy and learn a lot in this video as she paints plein air. ​

While I was in Maine we visited Acadia National Park. We enjoyed going to Sandy Beach and braved the cold water. It isn't colder than Alaska's ocean so we were all in. After the beach, we ate a lot of lobster. I think we can't handle any more lobster for a while. Acadia is so beautiful that I really had a hard time choosing what to paint. This was our first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean, so I decided I should paint the ocean. The sun sets really quick in Maine and it left even faster but it was so pretty. Maine has really captured my heart. I'm going to come back and paint here more someday, but I'm not ready to settle down yet. This painting is Sandy Beach at sunset, enjoy the sunset with some lobster. ​

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Learn how to Paint a Beach, Ocean, and Seascape

You can find the acrylic art supplies use here. I also used metallic gold and silver Liquitex heavy body acrylic paints. Watch the tutorial to see what colors I used and when. ​​​

Watch the Video Tutorial

How to Paint a Beach Scene

1. Paint the Sky. To make it fast mix your colors on your canvas. Use plenty of white. I get the pink, blue and purple down on my canvas. I can always layer or put back the blue of the sky. 

2. Paint in the land. Add green to white and black. Paint in the forest on the Peninsula by turning your brush to a vertical position. As you get closer add in pinks, bronze and gold. To get the rock look use a small flat brush. Add the trees on top by darkening your green with black. Give more structure to your trees. 

3. Paint in the water. The water is lighter in the back and gets darker as you get closer to the wave. Pink from the clouds reflect off the water. To add waves in the back use your flat top brush and paint long horizontal strokes close to each other. As you get closer those strokes get shorter and farther apart. Add the waves using white and adding a line, but be sure to break up your line. 

4. Paint in the details. You can leave it impressionistic or get as detailed as you want. Thank you for watching!. 

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