Brenda welcomes you into her creative process, showing you exactly how she:

• Sets Up Her Palette: She explains her logical system of arranging cool colours on one side and warms on the other, and shares her favourite paints, like the fast-drying Griffin Alkyd white that helps her work more quickly.

• Thinks About Composition: Brenda reveals how she considers the composition before she even starts painting, explaining her thought process behind placing the horizon and the breaking wave to create a balanced and engaging scene.

• Works in Layers: She patiently builds the painting passage by passage, teaching you her method for establishing the sky, the background sea, the wave, the foam, and the sand without the colours turning muddy.

• Masters Her Tools: You'll see Brenda's signature techniques firsthand: using a soft brush for blending luminous clouds and a palette knife—which she considers like an extension of her "little finger"—for applying thick, textured foam that catches the light.

• Adds the Final Magic: Brenda shows you her tricks for creating realism, like splattering paint for sea spray and pebbles, and demonstrates how to step back and make those crucial final adjustments to strengthen the painting.

Brenda is very specific about her materials, which helps you achieve the same effects she demonstrates.

1. Paints (Oil Colours)

Brenda uses a selection of cool and warm colours, arranged logically on her palette.

• Blues:

  • Cerulean Blue

  • Ultramarine Blue

  • Indigo

• Greens:

  • Sap Green

  • Viridian

  • Prussian Green

• Warm Colours:

  • Cadmium Red

  • Burnt Sienna

  • Cadmium Yellow

  • Cadmium Yellow Light

• White:

  • Griffin Alkyd White (This is her key recommendation because it's fast-drying, allowing you to work more quickly.)

2. Brushes

• Type: Brenda uses acrylic brushes for their soft, springy flexibility.

• Variety: A mixture of sizes, including some wider flats or filberts for washes and blending, and smaller rounds for details.

3. Palette Knives

• Style: Two knives of the same shape but different sizes. She describes them as oval at the tip.

• Usage: A small one for fine details and a larger one for applying broad areas of texture (like the foam).

4. Painting Mediums & Solvents

• Odorless Solvent (Thinner): She uses Zest It (an odor-free brand) for thinning paints for initial washes and for cleaning brushes.

• Clear Painting Medium: An oilier, richer medium used later in the painting process to improve flow and gloss.

5. Surfaces

• A primed canvas or canvas board of your preferred size.

6. Other Essentials

• Palette: A traditional wooden palette or a disposable paper palette for mixing colours.

• Rags or Kitchen Towel: Essential for wiping brushes, correcting mistakes, and softening blends.

• Containers: Two small jars or dippers for the solvent and the painting medium.

By gathering these materials, you'll be perfectly equipped to practice the techniques Brenda Malley so expertly demonstrates.

Basic understanding of oil painting required.

The course is composed of one video, a total of 33 mins. Enjoy the benefit of being able to watch and follow along at your leisure for the duration of your access.