World Inspired Landscapes: Estonia

To the north west corner of Europe lies Estonia, a small country located near Finland and Latvia. Nowadays, it is a part of the European Union and NATO and has a prosperous high tech economy. It has a long history of being invaded by its neighbors but has been stable since the early 1990's with the collapse of the soviet union. The landscape of Estonia is mostly flat, with great expanses of forests and lakes. In the painting, a wetland is home to a lily pond, grasses, a leaping frog, and a specter-like heron hiding in the reeds. I have had some practice painting lily ponds, for example out in the west island Montreal, and the canals of Amsterdam. 

The painting started with an outline of the shore line and lilies. Then I filled in the warm yellow-green and tan colours of the landscape followed by the tri-colour water. When looking at a pond on an angle like this, the closest areas seem brown because you can see through the water to the bottom, the lilies have stems that go to the bottom. Further out, the sky reflects of the water which transitions from a dark brown, to a dark blue, then sky blue and cyan at the top part. If there are clouds then the clouds reflect in the water as greyish blobs. Finally, there are ripples of water, and the lilies themselves to finish. I always think of Monet when painting water lilies.
 

World Inspired Landscapes: Estonia, watercolour 6 x 8" cold press, March 2022 (No. 3001b)