I will likely want to complete more than one painting of Hyla Park, but I decided to start with one area in particular. Like Pea Point, I am hoping to have a lot of fun with pond reflections in this painting.
Anyone who explores Hyla Park will find themselves walking through a network of narrow trails that connect a variety of small ponds. I found that whenever I would stop at a pond, I wanted to look a little closer. That's why I felt it best for this first painting to zoom in a bit closer to some of the details. My goal for this one is to depict three key elements: the lush green vegetation, the reflective pools of water and a hint of the muddy wet ground.
Here is another watercolour pencil study I created in order to try out some of the textures and character I hope to capture in the final painting. This study is 10 x 7" on cotton watercolour paper.
Anyone who explores Hyla Park will find themselves walking through a network of narrow trails that connect a variety of small ponds. I found that whenever I would stop at a pond, I wanted to look a little closer. That's why I felt it best for this first painting to zoom in a bit closer to some of the details. My goal for this one is to depict three key elements: the lush green vegetation, the reflective pools of water and a hint of the muddy wet ground.
Here is another watercolour pencil study I created in order to try out some of the textures and character I hope to capture in the final painting. This study is 10 x 7" on cotton watercolour paper.
When I first started to compose the oil painting, I struggled with trying to show too much. At first, the landscape orientation seemed to allow me to show more of the pond's vegetation. But in the end, as I stepped back, I really felt that the composition was stunting the vertical designs. It was really calling me to zoom in even closer and to switch to a vertical orientation (like my watercolour pencil study). So I rotated the whole canvas and started over again, painting the reflection of the sky to cover the original sketch.
I am having fun showing evidence of the surrounding landscape through reflections. The trees surrounding the pond and the type of sky are evident only as reflections in the pond.
When I visited Hyla in late August, some leaves were just beginning to turn yellow and fall. But most of the trees were still lush and green. You can see some fallen leaves floating in the water. As I continue to work towards the bottom of the picture plane, the plan is to show these leaves gradually getting larger and more detailed as everything gets closer.
If everything works out, this painting should also feature a hidden surprise when you look close enough. But I'll save that for later. More progress on this painting will appear in a later blog entry...