Saturday, August 12, 2023

Ride to river, light rain

At the end of the large park next to Lachine there are good views West along the river, with a prominent red capped lighthouse that would be rights around Stony point park. A few sailboats were out, and a family was fishing in the river. Over the years I have noticed that the water colour of the st Lawrence is a burgundy brownish tint when seen at an angle or in shallows. I made the colour with quin purple (PV55), dark blue (PB60), and red ochre (PR101/PBr7). It started to rain lightly and I had to finish the details quickly.  

View of Lighthouse in Lachine, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August 2023 (No. 3620a)

Every year this tree leans a little more, you can see in this painting where it has broken through the concrete retaining wall. One day it will probably topple into the river but for now it seems to be making plenty of leaves and doing fine despite its angle. The main focal point was actually the fast flowing water. It had little white bubbles here and there with a strong undercurrent. In the foreground, there were clover flowers all over the grass.

Leaning tree flowing water, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2023 (No. 3511)

On the weekend paint trips I have more time to make these paintings, hence the great amounts of detail as compared to some of my weekday paintings which are done on lunch break or after work. It did not feel like a lot of work this one, despite the large number of brush strokes needed to create the lush shrubbery and wild flowers. In contrast, the bridge and background were done with an economy of brush strokes. It's hard to believe that this is the same landscape that I painted in the winter when everything was covered in sheets of white and devoid of life save for the conifer trees. The bridge I believe, is the st Laurent railway bridge which is in front of the Mercier bridge when looking East.

Shrubs, Flowers, view of Railway bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2023 (No. 3512)

No comments:

Post a Comment