The view here is of Goat Island with some rocky islets in the middle of the river that harbour some trees, grass, and provide a landing spot for seagulls. To paint the scene, first the sky was filled in using blue mixed with carbon black and some earth tones. While moist, the tree line was added using perylene green (PBk31) and increasing amounts of either blue (PB60) in the distance, or leaf green (PY154 + PG7) towards the closer trees. The moisture of the green mixes had to be just right so that the tree line had a soft edge, not a hard edge, and it didn't just bleed into the sky. It takes some practice to get that right, and an understanding of how the brush, paper, and paint performs in humidity. The water was done with consecutive dry brush washes, where I scrape the brush almost flat with the paper. If too wet you don't get the white highlights, if too dry it looks sketchy. You might be surprised, and I was too, that the painting took less than ten minutes to complete, although I may have fussed with the seagull detailing on the rocky islet for a few extra minutes. As I rode away I thought about how fast I could do this painting, but then again, it took many years to be able to do the techniques effectively and on the first try.
Rapids Rainy Day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2023 (No. 3484a)
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