On day 3 I brought the bike out of the rental SUV, assembled the front wheel and rode up to the altitude 400 ski chalet. The chalet was a hustle bustle of activity, hikers, mountain bikers, and maintenance people zipping around in noisy four wheelers. On the ride up I stared into the depths of the vast mountain and realized that the hue, chroma and value all change from the bottom to the top of a forested-mountain. You see to the left of the chalet how the trees start out as a dark yellow/chartreuse, and end in a smokey green-blue at the top of the painting which is a more distant point. Seeing is one thing, achieving is another. When you apply blue-green to a painting, it dries a lot lighter than you think, so I applied it much darker than needed. After a lot of trial and error over the years, I may finally have cracked the secret!
Sutton Altitude 400 chalet, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2021 (No. 2779)
Next I found the second ski lift off in a quiet part of the park. The occasional mountain biker would zigzag up the slope, but otherwise it was very quiet here. The sun was starting to come through the clouds creating a bright chartreuse effect on the dried grass. On the back of this painting I had first tried to place the lift in the center of the painting, but then decided to move it off center for better composition.
Sutton Ski lift in summer, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2021 (No. 2780)
There wasn't much else to paint up in the ski cabin area, so I drove down to the town of Sutton which is built up around the main highway. There were very few places to sit, narrow sidewalks, and plenty of cars and trucks roaring by. A little frustrated I decided to just paint it as I saw it...
Beautiful Downtown Sutton, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2021 (No. 2781)
The roof line and contrast with the mountain was interesting, not to mention there was a bench to sit on in the shade. The cream colour is dilute yellow ochre for the store fronts. A big SUV parked in front of me blocking most of the ground level view so I had to make it up from memory!
Shops in Sutton, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2021
Exhausted by the heat and the previous hiking and biking, I sat on another bench in front of Sutton town hall and studied one of the restaurant fronts (where I had an okay burger for lunch), but then decided on this scene just to my right. It was a circular interlocking brick with decorative flowers and a bench, with the main road in the background. The brick colour was an exact match, I even held the finished painting up to the actual scene and it was the exact hue and value. It was done with a mix of cobalt blue (PB28), magenta (PR122), and yellow ochre (PY43). I have never actually got that colour right the first time, usually I will adjust it with a second wash, so I make a note of it here.
Sutton Town Hall , watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2021 (No. 2783)
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