Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, Quebec

From the Eastern Townships comes a scene painted near lake Memphremagog at the St. Benoit Monastery. This was not the main building of the abbey, rather it is a small chapel nearby that had a small area inside to pray. I was sitting in the picnic area fighting off the strong wind was blowing left to right causing the paper to flop around a lot. I liked how the building foundation was embedded in the rocky outcrop and how the trees and flowers framed the structure.

Painting different shades of green is vital for outdoor painting. I used several combinations here, the grass in the front is a type of sap green with lemon yellow, while the pale blue pine tree to the left of the picture is cerulean blue with just a touch of yellow, and a purple-green for the shadows. The bush that dominates the center of the picture is a yellow/green colour-fade into purple tones, then finished with a turquoise. Colour-fade is where you let two bodies of colour mix together when they are still wet to allow blending. The red molding and trim was the perfect foil for all the green.

11 x 8 " cold press, watercolour, August 2016