When hooking a stormy ocean you want to first think about where this ocean is in the world. Is it the Atlantic? Pacific? A brewing hurricane in a tropical place? The location of your storm will help you determine what sort of colours you're going to utilize in your colour scheme. A "mucky" colour scheme, using some greys, dark blues, maybe some dark murky greens and aquas could be used in a topsy-turvy ocean you'd see here in Atlantic Canada. Disturbances in the seas in tropical places would have a variety of aqua-toned blues. Whites, creams, pale pinks and pale yellows can be used as the tops of rough waves in any kind of stormy sea.
Go on the hunt for some interesting tweeds or fine plaids to hook in various spots throughout your ocean. When doing a sea with lots of movement you can use many different fabrics and colours because you want to show that flow happening in the waves. However, any fabrics or materials you use must "go" with the colour scheme you have chosen, you don't want to use any plaids of tweeds with too much of one colour in them that will end up throwing off the appearance of your sea. These different fabrics are great to use as ocean spray.
You will want to hook your stormy sea in jagged lines, all going in the same direction as if the wind is blowing it. You don't want it to look as if it's all neatly organized in a straight line, but keep your hooking loose and a little unorganized to give that mumble-jumbled effect. If you're doing more of a whimsical stormy sea, make the peaks of your waves rather high and going in all different directions. This will give you a fun and eccentric appearance to your ocean.
