Tip of the month – March 2010

I am painting another watercolor landscape that has reflections in it. Each time I approach this subject, I like to stand in front of the body of water that I am painting and watch what is happening on the water’s surface. Is the water moving? Is it still? Is the water transparent or murky? What color is the light?

MAINE STREAM was painted several years ago. I revisit this site year after year, always in the late afternoon. This scene was one of the first times that I became interested in water reflections as a subject in my paintings. I was fascinated by the patterns created by the positive and negative spaces of the trees as they reflected on the water. Masking fluid was used to create the patterns. After removing the masking fluid, a final wash of the sky color was applied over the water.

EVENING POND is a composite of scenes that I saw in Algonquin National Park. The dead trees remain standing like totems in the continually renewing forest. Wetlands and small ponds are everywhere. I used masking fluid as my drawing tool for this work. I masked the tree openings, the tree trunks and the reflections of the trunks. The masking fluid was removed halfway through the process and colored washes were applied to the entire painting.

Looking back at these paintings, I can see that masking fluid was an important tool. I also painted the color of the light later in the painting process. The challenge of shapes that looked like collage was always there. Painting a wash over these hard-edged shapes was taking a chance. Color might lift and sully the light colors.

SEASON OF MISTS is from a memory of a Nova Scotia scene on the Mersey River. The color of the light was painted over the entire scene in a wet in wet wash. The reflections were also painted into the still wet wash. The wet technique was important so as to be able to capture the luminosity and misty quality that I was striving for in this work.

EVENING AT THE MERSEY has a warm yellow wash over the entire surface. The evening light is warm and permeates everything in the painting. The reflections were painted into the still moist yellow wash. The light is subtler and the reflections are softer. The color of the reflections is muted in the evening light.

I use the wet in wet application of color in the reflections when the light is more subdued or when there is a moist atmosphere.

SUMMER’S EVE shows a silhouette reflection on a quiet pond at the end of the day. I applied a wash of yellow, red, and blue to capture the color of the glow. The light is counter light. The vertical shapes in the painting would be silhouetted against the luminous quality of the late day. The reflections were painted on top of the dry first wash. The application was wet in wet within the reflection shape.

ROUTE 175 NORTH has a similar approach to Summer’s Eve. The warm source of light was applied on a moist paper and surrounded with diluted red and blue. The dark reflection on the left was painted into the still moist first wash. The reflections on the right (tree tops) were painted on dry.

When water reflections are to be my subject in a painting, I look at the color of the light. I, then paint that light. If I need to mask small details of light with masking fluid, I apply it over the dry first wash. I paint the land and the water at the same time, finishing them together. The color used on the land is used in the water, too. Take your time to look at the water scene carefully and paint what you see not what you think you know.

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