View of the sea, trip to PEI 2024

 

Here is a brief view of the sea from North Rustico, Prince Edward Island. There was a little inlet with algae growing. I also made a painting of a fishing shack and two boats at sunset. We enjoyed the local blueberries the most so far! I made a few blogs on location in our cottage, now that I am back and scanned all the paintings I will update the pictures (you see the original photo I took in PEI) and continue blogging, there are 35 paintings in total.

View of the sea, watercolour, 5x7" cold press, August 2024 (No. 3971)

Stormy sky in NDG

The sky was an ominous purple and grey today as I walked home from work. Stopping on the famous corner of Walkley and Somerled, I looked eastward and painted the gloomy sky. The colours were a mix of indo blue (PB60) and magenta purple (PV55) with some red (PR179) and blue (PB15). Its funny, the red light is not supposed to be in the middle, and the pole is all wrong, but it didn't matter much. I just got back from a long day of writing a grant application and submitting it last minute so my mind was basically like the sky was! 

Stormy sky red light, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3968)

 

Using yellow ochre (PY43) to soften the purples, this version features the delicate, overlapping clouds and other urban elements such as the lamp post. The traffic light is actually attached to this lamp post but I wanted to avoid too much clutter in the painting to draw attention to the interesting sky. Luckily it did not rain much despite the ominous clouds in the sky. 

Stormy sky lamp post, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3969)

Scenes on corner of Somerled and Walkley

The bank across our street recently changed into an accounting office and the accountants decided to cut down all the trees and shrubs around the building leaving a barren stretch of dirt. Eventually the plants grew and now its bursting with greenery including these sunflowers. A lady walked by and chatted with me, turns out she was the one throwing sunflower seeds there to feed the birds. Some seeds must have grown wild, leading to this painting. The Metro grocery store is seen in the background. 
 

Sunflowers and Metro, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3970)

 

The next two were done before the cottage trip, I was standing on the same corner, Somerled and Walkley. There was a vertical cloud reflecting the orange sunlight, which I captured with a controlled backwash effect. Its a kind of mistake I used to make, but here it was done rather intentionally by allowing the blue to dry about halfway, then putting a loaded pale orange brush stroke and tilting the paper quickly. After it all dried I over-painted the light and details.

Sunset sky with vertical cloud, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2024 (No. 3953b)

 

This was the first attempt on the sunflowers on the corner. Its a nice painting and the sunset adds some colour, but the metro store competes a bit too much with the sunflowers. In the later version, done yesterday, I zoomed in on the sunflowers and cropped the scene on a different angle.

Sunflowers with Metro and sunset, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2024 (No. 3954b)

Kayaking lost brush

 

Up at the cottage I took the opportunity to go kayaking, although the craft seemed to be meant for children it was so small. You see my feet, complete with socks and sandals crammed into the front. I made the painting on location, looking at some wild flowers on shore and trying to keep the boat pointed in the right direction. Unfortunately I dropped a brush in the water and it immediately sank to the bottom. Things I learned, that brushes sink!

Me Kayaking, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3962)

 

The orange and yellow thing is a paddle board, you stand up with a long paddle and go across the water. You see the kayak upside down in the foreground, and the wet dock with surrounding lake elements. There were quite a few paintings of this scene, in this one I zoomed in on the details and included the two water crafts for composition and colour.

Paddle board and kayak, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3964)

 

Made when we arrived, I did this painting at a distance standing under the deck of the cottage. I could barely see the kayak from here, and in fact I may have been painting a composite of the two items that were there. You kind of get the rain feel here, literally the rain was falling on the painting as I did it, which creates a droplet effect.

Two deck chairs with kayak, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3961b)

Cilei Reading Magazine

I wanted to save the neatest (best?) for last, its Cilei reading a magazine inside of the cottage. I had just finished painting the lake view at night, when I turned to see this cool scene of the cottage interior and Cilei tucked away reading a magazine with an overhead reading lamp. It was the second time I tried painting her on the weekend, the first attempt, a swimming scene didn't quite work out and I may try to repaint that one. Undaunted, I launched into this one, messed up the face, and quickly flipped the paper and started again. Luckily on the third try, her hair, face, and reading posture turned out and I continued to fill in the res of the painting. It was a night scene on location that required a head lamp and copious amounts of carbon black (PBk6), indo blue (PB60), dark green (PBk31), and dark reds (PR179, PR209). The illusion of light comes from the highlight areas along the window sill, the deck char, the barbecue cover, and the trees in the background. It took awhile to piece together this one but glad it worked out, Cilei liked it, and its a good memory of a mostly relaxing weekend getaway.

Cilei Reading Magazine, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3967)

Water effects around the boat dock

I've said it before, that painting water in watercolour is one of the toughest things to do. The simplest approach is to apply a two or three toned wash, let it mostly dry, then paint over with impressionist-like brush strokes in various colours. I use that method all the time when painting the Lachine canal or st Lawrence river. However, water is more complex than that, there are ripples and reflections from the sun which appear white, the clouds and sky which are distorted by the waves, and the bottom of the water body will show through at closer angles. In this painting, while sitting in a comfortable dock chair on a wonderful afternoon by he lake, I tried to capture all the elements. On the right you see ripples with a distorted clouds, white sun reflections in the middle, and the yellow-orange earthy much and rocks on the bottom showing through on the shore. Some lily pads, aquatic plants, and the edge of the dock provide the sharp contrast against the smooth water.

Reflections by the dock, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3965a)

 

The lake is full of large ice aged glacier rock deposits like you see under the water in this painting looking off the edge of the dock. To paint the rocks under the water, it was like doing two paintings in one. I established the general rock shapes with lighter earth colours like yellow and red ochre (PY43, PR101), and then built up darker tones with burnt umber (PBr7) and indo blue (PB60). Some curvy lines depict the waves. I stared at the water for quite some time, and figured a four part strategy that may work, but it is going to take more practice. Perhaps more time around the lake would suffice!

Rocks under water, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3965b)

 

Here is a horizontal view of the boat dock with some rain clouds in the distance. The water effect was the simpler version, with a multi tone wash and hatch marks on top. If water is not the main focal point, it may as well be simple. You can see the cloud effect being very effective, because watercolour paint is excellent for painting clouds.

Boat dock with rain clouds, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3966b)

Rustic bench and wood pile

Based on some old carvings, the cottage may have been built in the mid 1970's. Some of the original artisanal furniture could be found within and around the cottage like this hand made bench. Its a simple enough shape, with classic curves in the front and arched feet on both sides. Pained a pale green, it really set well into its environment. A few bins were behind it, while the rest of the scene was classic 'Group of Seven' style scenery. Painting the yellow, green and brown undergrowth is tricky with watercolour, it takes some careful control of the paint moisture to get it right.

Rustic bench near lake, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3960)

 

Speaking of moisture, this one was painted shortly after the rain, and I had to go paint something else (the hammock painting) while it fully dried. I had practice painting piled logs in the famous sugar shack painting, although this scene was a close up that allowed more textural elements. I started with the earthy yellows and oranges of the log fronts, then layered over the dark elements and shadow effects after it dried. The surroundings were just some quick splashes of yellow green and brown.

Wood pile, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3961a)