Dappled Light on the Riverbank

This summer we spent a lot of time by the river and these areas of dappled shade really captured my interest.

I finished this new painting this weekend. It's 16"x20" canvas. I put a thin coat of gesso over an old acrylic. When it was dry I did a wash of indian yellow and magenta mixed with odourless solvent. I sketched in the shapes with watercolour pencil. I first painted in the dappled areas in zinc white, then worked on the water with raw sienna and indian red, trying to keep a transparent appearance. Later I added some raw unber, yellow ochre, and some of the green I'd made for the background leaves. I did the trunks, roots, and ground next, using raw umber, Indian red, raw sienna, yellow ochre, and zinc white, with some green for the grasses and moss made with cerulean blue, cad yellow hue, prussian blue, and some trad oil azo yellow light (because I'm out of light wso yellow). I also used these colours to mix greens for the background. I went over the dappled areas again with more white lightly tinted with various colours from my palette and then pure white in some areas.

I like the whole concept, but I'm not sure if the photo does the painting justice. It appears like the white spots need to be toned down a little more because they are in such strong contrast to the painting. It is hard to focus on anything but the white spots. Perhaps they should be toned down a little more with the color immediately underneath them. Of course, in the actual painting, they may not feel as startling.

Judy

Yes, Judy - it works better in the painting, but actually the dapples are bright distracting patches of light, which is the effect I was going for.

Thanks Sofie. I'm glad you got the effect you wanted in the painting. Photos just don't really show the actual effect of things. I'd love to see the original. I've walked in the wood and seen this effect and it really is fascinating. Judy