Paint Like the Ocean
Paint Like the Ocean

Paint Like the Ocean

Discover how acrylic paint can capture the movement, depth, and atmosphere of water through colour, layering, and fluid techniques inspired by the sea. Written by Jeff Olson.

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Acrylic Techniques Inspired by Water

The ocean is constantly changing. Light shifts beneath the surface, colours blend and disappear, and waves create endless patterns of movement and texture.

For artists, the sea offers a rich source of inspiration. Its layers, transparency, reflections, and atmosphere provide endless possibilities for exploring colour and technique.

Acrylic paint is uniquely suited to capturing these qualities. From transparent washes and luminous glazes to fluid pours and textured marks, it can reflect both the appearance and movement of water with surprising ease.

In this article, we explore ocean-inspired colour palettes, key artistic influences, and acrylic techniques that help translate the movement and atmosphere of the sea into paint.

Oceans of Observation

Throughout history, artists and naturalists have found inspiration in the ocean, discovering abstraction within its endless patterns, rhythms and movements.

One example is Ernst Haeckel, who transformed marine organisms into intricate studies of pattern and structure, revealing how symmetry and repetition exist naturally in sea life. His observations continue to inspire artists today, showing how science and art can come together to reveal the beauty of the natural world.

Across different artistic approaches, one idea remains consistent: the ocean is not just something to depict, but something that teaches us how to see. Pattern, movement and abstraction are already present in its forms.

Ernst Hackel: Art Forms in Nature, Plate 17: Siphonophorae
1904

The Language of Ocean Colour

Few subjects offer a more dynamic colour range than the sea. From deep storm-driven blues to luminous tropical shallows, ocean colour constantly shifts through light, reflection, and depth.

Amsterdam Acrylics provide a versatile palette for exploring these transitions:

Open Ocean

Tropical Reef

Storm Coast

Ultramarine Blue remains one of the most atmospheric blues in painting. Its name, meaning “beyond the sea,” reflects its historic journey through maritime trade routes, and it still carries a natural depth suited to ocean studies.

Phthalo Blue and Phthalo Green offer a more intense alternative, with transparent vibrancy that works well for both luminous shallows and underwater shadow.

For surface effects, Amsterdam Pearl colours can introduce subtle shifts in light and reflection. Applied thinly over darker layers, they create a sense of movement similar to sunlight on water or bioluminescent shimmer beneath the surface.

Acrylic as Water

Acrylic’s strength lies in its adaptability. It can behave like water while also describing it.

With dilution and control, artists can create transparent stains and atmospheric washes. With heavier application, acrylic shifts toward texture, weight, and physical movement.

Key techniques to explore include:

  • Transparent layering for depth and light
  • Staining to echo tidal movement
  • Pouring for fluid transitions and currents
  • Splattering for spray and foam
  • Glazing for luminous underwater colour
  • Matte and gloss contrasts for shifting reflections

Amsterdam Acrylic mediums expand these effects further. Pouring Medium supports fluid, organic movement and natural blending, while Gloss Medium enhances transparency and helps light travel through layered colour.

Together, these approaches create surfaces that feel responsive and fluid, closer to water in motion than fixed paint on canvas.

Paint Like the Ocean

The ocean builds depth slowly, through movement, layering, and change.

It reminds us that colour is never static, edges are never fixed, and control is always in dialogue with flow.

This month, work more intuitively. Let colours overlap and drift. Build transparency gradually. Observe how water shifts in light, how greens and blues merge, and how reflection constantly redefines the surface.

Try to paint not only what you see in the ocean, but how it behaves.

Layered. Luminous. Fluid. Always in motion.

About the author

Jeff Olson is a Seattle based artist with more than thirty years of studio practice and exhibition experience. He is both a painter and an educator with a deep understanding of the materials that shape visual expression.

He is the Art Education Director for Royal Talens North America, where he shares his knowledge with universities, art organisations and professional events throughout the United States and Canada. His work focuses on the history, composition and expressive potential of artists materials. Find out more about Jeff on his website.

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