Looking to the west, this view shows the highway 50 bridge in downtown Bolton going over the Humber river. To create the sparkle on the water I do a quick side-drag with a semi-moist brush loaded with the dark colour and let the paper texture do the work. It takes a deft hand especially when wearing giant gauntlet mitts, but I am used to it now. The sky is a relatively easy effect, starting with a yellow circle around the sun, I blend to a greyish cyan, then purple or blue. When it is semi-dry I add the cloud elements with a darker neutral purple. The hardest part is actually getting the sun to be a circle, I usually start it out bigger than needed, then it shrinks as I adjust the circular shape.
Sun over Humber river, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2024
Painting in the forest is tricky since everything is grey and brown this time of year. Without snow there is little contrast to work with. I preserved as much sparkle in the creek as possible to keep it visible. Its surprisingly difficult to paint in forests, but very enjoyable. Usually its completely silent but on this day (a weekend) there was a noisy construction crew doing heavy work on the nearby creek tunnel. Even in Bolton you cant escape the construction! At least the region has conserved quite a bit of forest including this one that runs all around the east and south parts of Bolton.
Creek in Bolton Forest, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, November 2024
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