Stratford is a famous little town in Ontario Canada where they have a Shakesphere theater, as well as a big swan lake. I did this painting many years ago on a painting trip, the date escapes me, but I do remember watching the Toronto Raptors in the playoffs against Philadelphia which was 2001, so that must have been the year. It is a very small painting. As I remember the swans did not stay in the same place very long, so it was hard to capture this moment.
When "painting white" in watercolour, you actually just leave the paper blank... so the white swan is actually the white paper. In the style I use (old English) there is no white paint! This means that you have to paint around the object you want to depict. Easier said than done. Here, I had to paint the pond first, leaving a swan-shaped gap. The shape was not quite right, so you can see the brush strokes around the swans which I was using to better define their shapes. It is a hard skill indeed, I may have done a better job of it now. Also, in retrospect, I would have softened the edges a little on the swans. Anyways, hindsight is 20-20! 5x5" cold press, 2001 (excerpt)
This painting was actually a two parter because I was running out of paper on the trip. Here is the full sheet, with the other painting oriented vertical, a nice scene of the sunlit river. They are on the same piece of paper divided by a line. 5x8" cold press, watercolour, 2001
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