La Réunion Rocky Coast in Watercolour. Waves, Spray and Basalt Drama

I painted this rocky coast of La Réunion, a volcanic island with dark basalt shores shaped by the very active Piton de la Fournaise volcano. The place has that rugged look where fresh lava meets the sea, and it gives such strong contrasts for a seascape in watercolour. The crash of the surf against the lava rocks throws up clouds of spray, which is perfect for capturing movement and sparkle in a simple way. The scene also reminds me of parts of the Canary Islands with their black lava cliffs and basalt stacks along the coast.

To suggest the moving water, I used loose horizontal brush marks with a fairly dry brush for the broken foam over the surface. Softer wet in wet strokes went into the rolling water behind, then small upward flicks and a few quick lifts with a damp brush made the sparkle, helped with a few dots of white gouache for the brightest spray. The sea colours here are simple mixes of ultramarine and cerulean, with a touch of viridian in the shallows to hint at depth and clarity. Keeping a few clean paper whites around the wave edges really sells the crashing energy without overworking the area

Edges are key in a scene like this. I kept hard edges on the rock silhouettes so the eye feels the sharp lava forms and the punchy contrast against the water, while the mid surf areas stay soft. The black rock is not really black, so I mixed ultramarine with burnt sienna and a little neutral tint for the deep shapes, then dropped in small hints of alizarin and lavender to bring life to those darks, which suits basalt coasts formed by recent lava flows. A taller tree trunk on the right and a small figure near the surf add scale and a touch of story without fuss