This painting is the translation of my previous sketch onto A3 double grey canvas. I am already liking this more planned approach to my painting, but in future will incorporate a rough drawing at actual painting size to get the proportions right first time, and avoid having to scrape out the main feature and do it again. I only applied the liquid white to the area behind the sky, and later to the area behind the water, so as to minimise the build up of wet paint in the areas where more detailed painting was to take place. This made the painting process easier to manage. I also did the bridge immediately after the mountains and the far distant pines at their base, so that I could more easily work the horizon line and the 2 point perspective of the bridge that Ihad incorporated into the sketch. Hope you like it.
Three bridges in one day! 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel' would be SO jealous!
As would any civil engineer be!
Great stuff Dave!
Many thanks Sunnylady for your mentoring on this. I didn't quite get the darkness under the bridge that I wanted and I darkened the left side water a bit, but I wanted to keep the illusion of the blue reflection from the sky. Blue is also my favourite colour, so it is just as well that the earth has blue sky and water, eh! I also used the colour theory and wheel a lot more on this painting to get a more effective complementarity.
Thanks Voy. It was a wrap-up and presentation of about 2 weeks endeavours over the last month or so; and enjoyably so. Onto painting that 'Winding Stream' running back into the painting today with the mix of liquid white & black. Stay tuned!
@Dave - I just realized that I do not know how to do a blue sky reflection in brown water. All rivers and canals in Guyana are brown in color... way darker than the sky...I wonder how blue reflections need to be put on such water. I guess one quick plein-air painting is needed to figure things out...or maybe 10 of them?
I love blue color too! not sure which exactly blue actually. https://www.eggradients.com/shades-of-blue-color
By the way I forgot to mention - you have a nice variety of greens in this painting. Nice to notice that shadows color gets brown as complimentary with this sky color.
Thank you for your kind words Sunnylady. All I have ever done is Phthalo Blue (or blue of other skies) over Liquid White and then added the colours from the mountains, trees, bushes etc to be reflected. For muddy waters could add some light brown colour instead of the Ph Blu or even transition with various shades. Sometimes happy accidents happen. Often it is discovery by experimenting; and then hoping I remember the outcome - photos help.
The Shades of blue link also has links to Yellow, orange and green.
For my greens in this painting, I started with Ph Blu and Cad Yellow and varied things from there, including some variations on Sap Green.
@Dave - I once had a happy incident and my water did not look nice at all... :) that time I experimented with cobalt blue and I think it was my mistake not to use Ph. Blue. I hope with more experience I will be able to resolve this issue of mine with the water.
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Dave, you got a lot of space in the painting! The eye follows that road, walks through the bridge and to the valley. Great job with the bridge! Nice renovation!