
Today, I am telling the creation story of And Nothing Else Matters, varnished watercolour on 16 x 20 inch panel. This piece is the latest in my Northern Journeys series, which features iconic canoes on northern lakes.

The painting was inspired by this photo I took of an island while on a 1000 Island cruise last summer. The moment I caught sight of this tree-covered chunk of weathered rock in the St. Lawrence River, I knew I had to paint it. When I saw that my photo had captured clearly the rippled reflection, I decided to take on the challenge of featuring this difficult painting aspect as well.
Before I started the painting, I already knew its name. 'And Nothing Else Matters' is the title of one of my two favourite songs by Metallica, but also refers to the idea of escaping the cares and concerns of everyday life by returning to the peace and tranquility of Nature. It is ironic that I should name this quiet, serene scene after a heavy metal song from the 1990's.
Without further ado, here are the sequential steps of creating this intricate artwork:

DAY 1: I have finished the 16 x 20 inch pencil sketch on 300 lb watercolour paper. So this artwork would fit my Northern Journeys theme, I decided to add to the foreground of the composition a rocky shore with a canoe resting on it. This gives the viewer a sense of happy anticipation of the wonders of Nature that await discovery.

DAYS 2 & 3: Using masking tape and masking fluid, I masked out all shorelines so I would be able to paint the water quickly using a wet-in-wet technique.
After wetting the upper half of the scene and painting the sky, I blotted out colour where it overlapped the tree shapes. Then I wet the lower half and added the base layer for the water. After drying overnight, I painted a second layer on the water.
I don't often paint reflections on rippling water, so I am feeling my way gradually, trying to create complex wave patterns that make sense and draw the eye towards the island.

DAYS 4 & 5: After completing five layers of paint on the water, (enough that I am confident no more wet-in-wet paint application will be needed), I let the painting dry fully and removed all masking from shorelines.
The blue sky reflections on rippling water are not complete but are starting to look more realistic. Work on the tan and green island reflections has begun.

DAY 6: The island's reflections are mostly done, and I am very happy with the effect.
The first layer of colour on the foreground rocks is on and salted, and I have begun applying the 'grisaille' (monochromatic values) layer to the island rocks, to lock in the shadow and crevice shapes.

DAYS 7 & 8: The island rock is mostly done, and I am very happy with the effect. I have revelled in painting the rocky places of Canada for almost 40 years and thoroughly enjoy portraying their quiet strength and majesty in watercolour.
I have begun the grassy patch in the foreground, which is causing me some concern as I experiment with this section. Working from my imagination on this bit brings risks and challenges.

DAY 9: I have started to paint the trees on the island and this section of the painting is going well. In the early decades of my art practice, I had great difficulty painting masses of foliage. I kept observing and practising, paying attention to shapes and shadows, and eventually developed a successful method for this type of subject.
Adding more dark greens to the island reflection has made the lighter areas representing the rock reflections 'pop'. I didn't know if I could manage to create realistic water reflections, but I finally can say the water is done and I am pleased with the result.
I have added shadows and contours to the rock in the foreground, but I am not happy with the section to the right of the canoe. The line where the rock meets the blue water looks awkward. I now realize I extended the imagined shadowy crevices all the way to the upper edge of the rock - a rookie move. I will have to think about how to redo this section.

DAY 10: While considering my options for fixing the problematic foreground rock shadows, I switched to painting the canoe. Some would call this procrastination... :-)
Then I tried lifting excess paint from the rock shadows using a stiff wet brush, but the paint had stained the paper and wouldn't come off. Time to bring out the big guns!
After the paper dried, to the right of the canoe I masked off the water where it touches the foreground rock. I used torn strips of masking tape, to create an irregular edge.
I then used a wet Magic Eraser to scrub off paint everywhere I wanted to recapture the feeling of sunlight on stone. This erasing process removed the upper layer of paper along with the paint, creating a rougher paper surface; however, since the subject is rock, having a rough texture is no problem.
Once the paper was dry, I painted on new, smaller rock crevices and texture, and I think the rock looks much more realistic now.

DAY 11: Here I am in my studio working on the island scene. I finished painting the trees and thought the painting was complete.
While reviewing the whole composition, I realized the tidy patch of grass under the canoe was illogical. It should look more like the island, covered in tree debris.
So how to change course? The green pigments had stained the paper and could not be removed with a wet brush.
Solution: I covered the green grass with three coats of absorbent ground medium. This created a white area the precise shape I needed, with absorbent properties resembling virgin watercolour paper.

DAY 12: I painted on dried leaves and twigs under the canoe to finish the scene... finally! Once it was fully dry, I mounted the painting onto an archival wood panel and protected it with seven coats of UV-resistant varnish. (To see my full process of framing watercolour paintings without glass, click here.)

There was barely time to frame the finished painting before it was acquired by one of my collectors in Ottawa, ON. Everyone is delighted that this master work has found its forever home.
I hope you have enjoyed this insider's view of my painting strategies. There is so much more to planning and executing a painting than most people think.
I am profoundly grateful to live this artist's life, being able to share with the world my soul-deep connection with nature and the art it inspires.
Custom art prints are available of And Nothing Else Matters through my publisher Fine Art America. View here.
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The concept for this series came from a daydream about the red pebbles (pictured here) that I was using as reference for a stone circle painting seven years ago.
I sketched out my idea on watercolour paper, masked out the leaf and painted the weathered wood. After removing the masking, I painted the leaf. Then I masked out stripes on certain pebbles and painted them in various hues of soft reddish colours.

In my last post, 




Each of these paintings began in my sketchbook as a tiny concept drawing, such as those shown here.
In my last post, I introduced this new painting Echoes of Summer (varnished watercolour on 18 x 24 inch panel). It portrays famous Mazinaw Rock in Bon Echo Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.
The tiny kayaker paddling in the distance adds a human presence and gives scale to the 330 foot (100 metre) tall rock face.

We were camped on a warm August evening beside ripened grain fields on a gently sloping hillside.
As we relaxed outside after dinner, a hot air balloon flew by.

This painting is a scene I invented by combining these two references from different parts of the shore taken in different years.
The paddlers are unseen, perhaps setting up their tent or enjoying dinner around a campfire, atop the hill.
It stretches for almost a mile (1.5 km) along Mazinaw Lake, and is a landmark in Bon Echo Provincial Park, just north of Kaladar, Ontario.
Since I began my art career almost 40 years ago, I have been showing my artistic creations at studio tours, art festivals, open houses, fund raisers, juried shows, and art galleries.
While touring the 1000 Islands region of the St. Lawrence River last summer, I chanced upon a beautiful white pine standing proudly above the forest.
Before starting to paint the sky and distant forest, I masked out all the snow shapes on the central tree, and on the tops of the lower trees, to preserve the white of the paper in those areas. This allowed me to create a clear blue sky quickly, painting right over the snowy trees.
Last spring, fortunate folks from around the world were privileged to witness spectacular displays of northern lights.








Twenty years ago, my husband and I spent a sunny August weekend at a lodge on a cluster of tiny islands in Georgian Bay. While kayaking there, I was treated to my first up-close views of the iconic rock of that region of Ontario. 
A Place of the Heart, varnished watercolour on 14 x 11 inch panel, $900.
The Windy Shore, varnished watercolour on 20 x 16 inch panel, $1500.


