Scene on the Seine, France

In Paris this spring I had the chance to paint late in the afternoon and the sun was rapidly going down so I headed to the Seine river, this scene would be looking onto the tip Ile St. Louis where a bunch of people were catching the last of the sun and in the backdrop would be Ile de la Cite, if the painting extended up and to the right a bit, you would see Notre Dame Cathedral. I took a bunch of pictures too, maybe one day I c an expand it into a larger work... the idea of putting Notre Dame cathedral in this small painting was rather daunting and the time was short.

Painting the water in the Seine was indeed an interesting challenge and quite the opposite to painting the Indian ocean or carribean sea, here the water is muddy and choppy, the buildings shadow a lot of it, and the boats going by constantly create a lot of waves. I tried to capture it best by laying down rather thick brushstrokes in a Monet-like fashion, or maybe like Tom Thomson in 'Jack Pine' where he used interlocking brush strokes to create the illusion of a sunset reflecting on the water. Here I use the technique to create the illusion of brown sludge reflecting off the water, mixed with highlights from the blue sky and white foam of the waves.

5x6" cold press, 2011