This Ocean Art Trend Makes Every Day Feel Like Summer
Most of us can’t spend every day at the beach. Sure, we can spend every day fantasizing about the beach, but day jobs and social expectations and pure logistics prevent us from digging our toes into the sand every morning. If only it were possible: There’s something so marvelously soothing about blue waters stretching toward the horizon.
Bring the ocean to you with these trendy art prints, which visualize water in new ways: overhead, via drone, or with an artist’s brushstroke rendition of unruly waves. This new take on ocean art is a far cry from the crowded beach shots that populated our walls a few years ago. And these soothing, realistic, and sometimes moody artworks are popping up in more and more homes. Whichever piece you choose, once it’s hung on your walls, you’ll be able to begin each morning with a quick glance at the sea.
1. Wave Patterns by Tommy Kwak, from $21
Deep blues and gorgeous teals intermingle to create a complex and engaging piece of art. Hang a large-scale version of this print above a couch on a neutral wall to give your living room a dramatic focal point.
2. Aqua Pool by Don Bishop, $140
Journey deep into blue waters through a painter’s eye. Don Bishop’s highly textured aquascape may be only a square foot, but it feels like peering into a perfect summer sea.
Artist Michael David Sorensen captures the tension between the ocean’s beauty and power—and includes the unique forest-and-ocean majesty of the Oregonian coast. This watercolor painting would complement a jewel-toned gallery wall or stand stalwart on its own.
4. Waiting by Ian Baguskas, from $24
Sea melding with sky doesn’t always mean a horizon of deep blue. Sometimes—as pictured in this neutral-toned photograph from Ian Baguskas—that intersection is a barely blue gray.
5. Pacific Coast Highway by Denise Wong, from $198
California’s Pacific Coast Highway is a magical place—and painter Denise Wong has captured the road’s unique, mystical aura with broad brushstrokes (from $198, minted.com). Whether you’re from California or just adore the state, this abstract piece brings a slice of California cool to your living space.
6. Ablution, from The Barking Wall by Brendan George Ko, from $24
Water is glorious on its own, but it’s also wonderful because of the way it makes us feel: everything, all at once. This surreal photo represents all that is marvelous, and yet, simultaneously frightening about wide ocean vistas.
7. The Whale by Terry Fan, from $21
Moby Dick gets an illustrated twist in this quirky seascape. While the art may feel plucked from a children’s book, there’s nothing childlike about this beautiful allusion to the enormity of the ocean.
8. North Sea Channel by Sven Laurent, $3,250
This abstract photograph feels almost like a painted gradient: a soft, barely-there blue-green at the bottom up to a muffled foam-gray. At nearly 40 inches, the piece promises to dominate a wall.
9. Ocean by Lost Tribe, from $24
When you’re standing in the water, the moment waves break onto sand can feel like chaos. But from above—as captured by a drone—the intersection of solid and liquid makes beautiful art.
Looking for the perfect, soothing piece for a nursery or reading room? This abstract piece ($800, Etsy) depicts an ocean horizon. Brush strokes bring to mind the whorls and eddies of the water, which contrasts beautifully with the cloudy gray sky.
11. The New Dawn by Jean-Marie Ghislain, $590
Most of us rarely venture beneath the ocean’s waves. Hang Jean-Marie Ghislain’s tumultuous underwater photograph (from $590, Lumas) for a constant reminder of the peace and pain found beneath the surface—all in a gorgeous blue-and-gray palette.