Mount Sutton is primarily meant as a ski hill in the winter, but in the summer it is used for mountain biking and hiking. In fact, some hikers literally sprint around the paths apparently in training for adventure racing events. There I was shuffling my way to the top with my leather attache full of paint supplies. This scene shows the beginning of the steep path that veers right and heads into the bush. It was very rugged terrain as shown by the varied brush strokes and textured surfaces.
Sutton Path to Lake Mohawk, watercolour 5 x 7" hot press, August 2021 (No. 2774)
The interior of the forest was filled with light and shadow. In the foreground, a rocky segment of the hiking path with a patchwork of light beaming from the canopy. In the background is a plunging valley and tree line sloping to the left. I started with the highlight areas, applying blobs of bright chroma yellows, oranges, and chartreuse. Then I worked up the darker shadow areas with decisive washes, and finished with the texture work. It was important not to have any white paper showing so I filled in all the little spots with yellow or light red.
Sutton Way to Lake Mohawk, watercolour 5 x 7" hot press, August 2021 (No. 2775)
Lake Mohawk is a small mountain tarn with murky water and lily pads. It was completely silent when I painted this, at least only sounds of nature like buzzing dragon flies and warbling birds in the background. Silence is golden as they say... last time we were there people were shouting the whole time which really ruined the atmosphere. I noticed a sign that warned of the leeches in the lake, and sure enough I observed a giant one, maybe 10cm long (3.5 inches), you can see the little squiggle in the bottom left near the edge of the painting. I wondered how it could get to be so big in such a lake devoid of too much life, but then later I saw a group of hikers who allowed their dog to romp around the very shore line where I saw the leech! Then another dog showed up, and I started to realize how the leeches were doing so well. Perhaps the pet owners didn't notice the signs.
Sutton Lake Mohawk Rock and Leech, watercolour 5 x 7" hot press, August 2021 (No. 2776 not labelled yet)
On the south side of Lake Mohawk the trail rises steeply on broken terrain reaching a priminent dome-shaped rock platform with a spectacular view of the rolling hills. In the distance would be the US border. This was the second try, I added too much neutral and lost the colours, this time I kept the indothrene blue (PB60) and perylene green (PBk31) mostly true, with varying amounts of water. I worked from the light distant mountain downwards into the foreground trees. Since my last trip to Sutton I spent time and effort working out the details of how to paint this type of scene properly, even going up to
Mount Royal to practice.
Sutton Lake view from Abenakis rock, watercolour 5 x 7" hot press, August 2021 (No. 2777a)
Now for some technical notes...This was the first take, I added carbon black to neutralize the distant blue but it became grey and washed out. The rest of the mountain ridges looked disjointed and I was unable to keep the tree definition in the foreground of the scene. It still looks okay this painting, but it is missing the feeling of blue mountains on the horizon that you see in the second take, A surprisingly challenging effect. The next day I went on a short bike ride and had the chance to really stare into the depths of the mountains, it occurred to me that these distant mountains are actually a combination of hue, saturation and value shifts. A triple threat! From foreground to background the hue shifts from yellow to blue, the value shifts from medium value to one value lighter, and the saturation shifts from fully saturated forest green to a low saturated grey-blue. Managing these three (H-S-V) shifts in one smooth gradient using the paint and brush will take some more practice for sure.
First take, view from Abenakis rock, watercolour 5 x 7" hot press, August 2021 (No. 2777b)
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