Swans were swimming along with other aquatic fowl on this narrow canal. Lily pads gently rocking back and forth in the light wind, water rippling. The apartment block in the background (barely visible) reflecting off the water's undulating surface. The canal itself, a murky, sepia brown. I knew I had to try an make a painting of this scene, and there was a convenient bench next to the canal where I could sit. This is the second try, the first attempt did not work out so well but I thought about it for a long time and came up with another technical approach. To be honest, this is probably the highest technical difficulty I have ever attempted on location or even in the studio. The water has several things going on- the murky brown colour coming from the sediment, the blue door, white windows, orange brick reflecting off the surface, the ripples of water blowing in a distinctive pattern and catching reflections from the sky. Then we have several lighter tone shapes in the swan, the two birds and the lily pads which have to be depicted on top of a darker background. Remember that there is no white paint here, so I had to get the complicated water effect around the tight spaces of the swan and lily pads. The adjustment I made in this version was to make the outline of the lily pads first and then paint around them. I also lifted some paint to create the lily pad stems disappearing into the muck.
5.5 x 7.5 hot press, September 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment