Red Earth and Rocks near the water

Prince Edward Island, abbreviated PE, is a small province completely surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. As such, the shore line is subject to severe storms and rising sea levels. All around there was evidence of active erosion, for example at this lookout point between North Rustico and Cavendish. Near the top of the cliffs there is grass overhanging, with the occasional tree leaning inwards, with roots sticking out all over. Midway down, there are ramps of red earth covered in rocks of all sizes, with more rough debris at the shore line. Getting the red-orange correct was very tricky and I spent a good part of the trip trying to figure out the best way to do it. Here I used red ochre (PBr7/PR101), with dark red (PR179) and orange (PO62, PO73) for shadows, with a touch of black (PBk6).

Crumbling shore line, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3901a)

The colour I needed for the job was Caput Mortuum (PBr7) which is a low chroma, dark red, almost purplish brown colour, however, I left the tube at home not knowing that it would come in handy. Thinking about MacEvoy's colour wheel, I came up with the next best thing, a mix of red ochre (PBr7/PR101) with a purple mix (PB60 and PV55), and a touch of yellow ochre (PY43). By varying the proportions of those four paints I could create a range of realistic highlights and shadows as you see in the potato-shaped rocks at the end of the fishing wharf in North Rustico. Black (PBk7) finished the effect by creating dark shadows.

Potato rocks, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3982b)

 

The red earth was everywhere along the shore line. Here, we were sitting in the shadow of the cliff to cool down, with a view of the beach and sandbar. The sand was a pinkish, almost flesh tone, although closer to the colour of a cardboard box. I was surprised by the range of colours in the sea, it was dark blue and turquoise on the horizon, but turned to a greenish, golden colour close to shore due to extensive sandbars. I didn't quite get the full effect here, but captured it in subsequent paintings.

Red rocks in shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August  2024 (No. 3985b)

Campbell's lake of shining waters

Anne of Green Gables was a fictional character in coming of age novels written by Lucy Maude Montgomery in PE. Her aunt and uncle's summer house in Cavendish where she stayed and wrote parts of the books has been turned into a well visited museum of mementos. Left mostly untouched since their departure the house is still inhabited by a cat, and the original family descendants still live on the premises. The lake in the painting is Campbell's lake that inspired the lake of shining waters in the books. The amazing thing about PEI is how much they love to have gigantic mowed lawns, like some houses were sitting on a football field worth of manicured grass. The Museum was no different, you see in the foreground and off in the distance great swaths of turf. The rest of the landscape was dotted with scrub trees and prominent pines. Using my new synthetic brushes I could easily create the triangle shape of the pine trees. The new brushes hold a lot of water though, and it took me some time to adjust.

 

Campbell's lake of shining waters, 8 x 10" cold presswatercolour August 2024 (No. 3900)

Boats on shore at sundown

As the sun went down I stood in the shadows of these two boats that were up on shore in North Rustico PE. They are the same two boats I pained a few days ago at sunset. The main features were the curving lines, interesting negative spaces and delicate tints. Before filling in the washes, I made the outlines of the two boats, making sure to get the curves correct and the negative space continuous. After that, I filled in the washes with variations of grey, making yellowish infusions with yellow ochre (PY43) and orange (PO62) mixes. Its a subtle painting with a powerful composition.

Between two boats, 5 x 7"cold press, watercolour August 2024 (No. 3982a)

Seagulls on the shore, The Gulls near fishing boat

These seagulls were just chilling out on the water at North Rustico beach. We are used to seeing them in parking lots in Montreal eating french fries but these ones were in their natural habitat. In the background is one of many views of crumbling red cliffs. The sand is paler and whiter due to crushed seashells. To paint the gulls, you have to leave the space blank by painting the water colour around them. If you make a mistake, just paint the spot over, and start again in a different spot. When dry, you can dab in the grey and black feathers and yellowish beak.

Seagulls on water, 5 x 7"cold press, watercolour August 2024 (No. 3980a)

Tell the seagulls where the fish are and they will show up. As I painted shanties and boats the gulls waited expectantly for something. Then the tourist boat came back with their catch and the tour guide gutted the fish tossing the entrails into the sea. A huge flock of the birds swirled around for a snack. Afterwards I picked up some fish for us at a nearby shop...it was catch of the day salmon and shrimp. The title of the painting is taken after 'The Birds', a horror movie by Hitchcock about flocks of birds attacking people.

 

The Gulls, 5 x 7"cold press, watercolour August 2024 (No. 3979)

Sand Dune, North Rustico beach

Just down the road from out cottage rental in North Rustico PE, there is a small fishing village with touristy shops, restaurants and a long beach. The sand is an orange yellow, with reddish tones in places. This delicate dune runs along the entirety of the beach. We made it out in rented bikes to Cavendish it was like riding your bike through a screen saver the views were so good. The colour of the sand is a mix of red earth, and white sea shells. In places it is a bright beige, elsewhere a rusty red-orange brown. The delicate grasses on the top are just hanging on, while small sand plants grow sporadically.

Sand Dune with shadow, 5 x 7"cold press, watercolour August 2024 (No. 3973a)

 

Sunset on coast, North Rustico PEI

The sunset last night must have been spectacular although we were on the other side of the island in North Rustico looking north east. While eating some ice cream I made this colourful painting of two old boats on land, with pink coral and blue mixes in the sky. The pink was quinacridone magenta (PR122) and the purple mixes were variations of quinacridone purple (PV55) with indo blue (PB60) and phthalo blue (PB15). They key, if you are trying to do this in watercolour, is to be decisive and paint the sky fast in successive brushstrokes. Each brushstroke must blend with the previous one, without causing backwashes. You can see a little backwash on the top of the cloud, the yellowish layer, which was done intentionally to create a glow effect. It takes a lot of practice, and the paper has to be high quality, this is Arches cold press 140 lb. Adding to the complexity, it was nearly dark out, and I was eating ice cream simultaneously!

 

Pink sky two boats, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour August 2024 (No. 3971)

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)