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Paintings in Progress |
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Sketch of proposed cover, agreed to flop flying Little Auks to be flying to the right. |
1.Wash background added but keeping white of paper for later detail. Painted detail in foreground. |
3.Changed distant cliffs, more foreground detail Painted, including Polar Bear on iceberg. |
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5. More depth added to sky wash then more foreground including sea painted
7. Little Auks painted in to sky. Finishing details added to Walrus's and the rest of the foreground.
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More than a decade ago a watercolour of a Dipper on a Dartmoor stream hung on the wall of my lounge, it was much admired by many visitors and particularly by my wife (Tanya). A little short of material for an exhibition I decided to take the Dipper painting but not put a price on it - an offer was made that I couldn't refuse and I have been promising Tanya another Dipper painting ever since! I have searched a long time for the inspiration to create another picture, in 2003 I found the location, Dipper and that vital motivation to start another painting, it was on the River Dart near the village of Holne.
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Initially I sketched out the picture several times before arriving at a suitable composition, this sketch was taped to my wall in my studio and altered a little over the period of a couple of weeks before transferring it to a 20x30inch (508x762mm) primed canvas board.
To create the depth in the painting and to bring out the intensity of the colours in the foreground the background was initial painted in dark blues, crimson and greens getting paler as I painted to the bottom foreground. I also added a few more boulders to give more 'movement' to the river and some more foreground alder leaves as the branch was proving to be too obtrusive. The spring alder leaves almost glowed as the light shone through them, this was to be an important feature of the painting with the dark background helping to illuminate them.
I now added some detail into the far river bank and water, to keep the shadowy feeling I used only blues. A boulder was completed to ensure the colours would work together. The soft bark of the Alder branch received only loose painting treatment to achieve the desired effect - it was not a feature I wanted to draw attention to, but was an essential part of the composition. I experimented with a few yellowy greens to find the desired base colour of the Alder leaves.
Blue/greens were used to paint the shaded leaves, but I decided to hold back on the other leaves until more of the picture was completed.
I have now started to add some detail to the moss covered boulders and foreground water. A tangled mass of roots in the bottom left adds some interest and is very typical of the Dartmoor streams.
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The finished painting |
TO BE CONTINUED.....
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