Earlier this year, in the post New Works: Magical Northern Lights, I explained the genesis of a new series. These imaginary scenes depicted rocks, trees, water, skies, lakes, and northern lights, and were created using my new Holbein watercolour paints and vast photo library.

This spring and summer, I have continued to paint mythical, peaceful scenes of the north, based on memories formed over the course of my life.

I grew up near Algonquin Park in Ontario, and as an adult have explored the Canadian Shield landscape throughout northern, central, and eastern Canada on foot, in a kayak, on a snowmobile, on a motorcycle, and in our travel trailer.

In this post, I am introducing five of my recent fanciful scenes that portray morning or evening skies and feature the colour pink.

Rhapsody in Hues, varnished watercolour on 9 x 12 inch panel 

I began this painting by masking out the stars and creating the background swirls. I built up layers of pale yellow, red, blue, purple and black, letting each layer of colour dry for several hours before adding the next. The masking was removed and trees were added onto dry paper at the end of the process.

This painting was inspired by a previous work Awakening, which had the three-tree cluster on the right side. For Rhapsody in Hues, I added the majestic tree on the right side for balance.

For more information about Rhapsody in Hues, click here.

Still Standing, varnished watercolour on 8 x 8 inch panel

This scene was inspired by many small, rocky islands I have seen on Lake Superior and Lake of the Woods and was painted with a similar strategy to Rhapsody in Hues.

When I see trees growing on these seemingly barren hunks of rock with very little soil, I am amazed that they can find enough of a foothold to remain standing.

For more information about Still Standing, click here.

Not a Care in the World, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel

There is something about calm northern lakes that touches the soul and brings peace, whether we are quietly fishing, kayaking, canoeing, floating, or just gazing from shore. We need to pause and appreciate these beautiful moments whenever they happen.

This painting is a re-imagining of a scene I painted a few years ago titled Old Friends. I changed the colour scheme and added a foreground tree silhouette to make the viewer feel more immersed in nature.

For more information about Not a Care in the World, click here.

Little Bit of Heaven, varnished watercolour on 8 x 8 inch panel

This scene is inspired by many rocky islands I have seen in the 30,000 Islands region of Georgian Bay.

There is something special about the vintage cabins I see, perched on these weathered rocks. The humble, sturdy dwellings make we wonder about the lucky folk who own these little bits of heaven and what their lives are like.

For more information about Little Bit of Heaven, click here.

The Promise, varnished watercolour on 10 x 8 inch panel

This sunset scene was composed of a collection of vintage white pines I photographed in the Temagami region of northern Ontario.They tower above the surrounding forest, making for an impressive sight I admire every time we drive through that region.

The title refers to the saying 'Red sky at night, Sailor's delight', which promises good weather the day following a rosy sunset.

For more information about The Promise, click here.

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of my latest paintings of fanciful northern scenery.

Which painting is your favourite? If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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Over the past winter and spring, I have devoted myself to building a fresh collection of landscape paintings, destined for display and sale at my retail gallery partners.

I experimented with new composition strategies and colour combinations, and feel that this sustained burst of creative intensity has allowed my paintings to reach a new level of clarity and emotional resonance.

Pictured with me here are five special artworks I selected for the Miskwaa Open Air Art Show & Sale 2023, which runs daily in July and August.

In this post, I am very excited to share a show preview with you, and hope this brief overview inspires you to see these artworks in person.

Living the Dream, varnished watercolour on 12 x 12 inch panel

The concept of an ideal life may look different for others, but mine includes quiet moments spent at northern lakes, drinking in the splendour of the seasons. Peaceful places like this, where I slow down and connect with nature, replenish my soul.

The colourful autumn forest with its slightly blurred reflection was technically difficult to paint in watercolour, and until I was about 90% done, I was certain this painting was a failure. Having invested hours and hours of time in this piece already, I pressed on and was incredibly relieved when it transformed into a believable scene. Tenacity wins the day!

Living the Dream is available at the Miskwaa show, valued at $1,070. including tax.

Quality Time, varnished watercolour on 9 x 12 inch panel

Going on an excursion with our loved ones, quietly exploring a northern lake, and basking in the beauty of unspoiled nature, provides respite from busy lives. How lucky are we who get to spend quality time like this.

I tried a new colour combination for the sky and water in this piece and am happy with the peaceful feeling it adds to the scene. The setting was inspired by Lake Muskoka, and I saw these canoeists with their dog in Pukaskwa National Park on Lake Superior.

Quality Time is available at the Miskwaa show, valued at $730. including tax.

Daybreak, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel

In this winter scene, stars begin to fade as a blaze of sunlight heralds the beginning of a glorious new day. The golden hues of dawn bring welcome warmth after a cold winter night.

Although this is an imaginary landscape, the trees are inspired by my vast photo reference library from many years spent exploring the forests of northern Ontario.

Daybreak is available at the Miskwaa show, valued at $680. including tax.

Dancing in the Dark, varnished watercolour on 12 x 12 inch panel 

Northern lights ripple across the night sky, reaching down to touch the horizon. A tiny island, cloaked in evergreens and nestled in mist, beholds the spectacle. It is as if the aurora are asking the trees to dance.

This is another imaginary scene, inspired by an island I photographed at Lake of the Woods.

Dancing in the Dark is available at the Miskwaa show, valued at $890. including tax.

Steadfast and True, varnished watercolour on 16 x 12 inch panel 

Rocky shores of northern lakes are subject to relentless natural forces, such as wind, waves, heat, cold, and ice. And yet, these robust stone beaches survive the test of time. I admire their strength and beauty.

I began this piece by painting, from my imagination, a graded blue wash for the sky and water, then adding the orange of a sunset where the horizon would fall. The foreground stones of this scene were inspired by a pebble beach at Lake Superior and the island was one I admired at Lake of the Woods.

Steadfast and True is available at the Miskwaa show, valued at $1,300. including tax.

I hope you have enjoyed this personal private tour of my Miskwaa Collection for 2023.

If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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In my last post, Secrets to Painting Glowing Skies, I revealed three principles that helped me improve my skills in painting complex cloudy sky scenes.

In a nutshell, these strategies included colour testing prior to starting the painting, building up vivid colour gradually in many layers over many days, and adding colour quickly on wet watercolour paper for each layer.

Over the last year, I employed these principles to help 'up my game' in portraying the aurora borealis, and my latest creations are pictured in this post. (If you want more details about an individual painting, click on the image.)

In addition to this new painting strategy, a big breakthrough in painting northern lights resulted from my introduction to Holbein watercolour paints. They were awarded to me last year, as a prize in the Women in Watercolor International Juried Competition.

My first experience using these paints was in the creation of my largest watercolour ever, a 40 by 28 inch close up of dwarf yellow iris and river stone. I shared the whole story, including a time lapse video, in a recent post The Making of 'Where Garden Meets Rock'.

I am thrilled to have been introduced to Holbein paints, which are made in Japan. They have a lovely creamy consistency that makes them easy to re-hydrate and mix together, and the resulting colour combinations are clear and vivid without being garish. It was very difficult to make a dull, muddy mixture, even when combining warm and cool pigments. If you have worked with watercolour paints to any extent, you know how remarkable this attribute is.

Shown here are the colour tests I did on watercolour paper swatches, using Holbein yellows, blues and greens, in combination with some past favourite hues in the MaimeriBlu, Sennelier, Schmincke, Winsor & Newton, and Daniel Smith brands.  Although all the mixtures I tried looked luscious and fabulous when wet, they became dull and unattractive after drying.

It wasn't until the fifth test (shown on the right of the swatch photo) that I found a combination that stayed vivid even after drying. These brilliant greens and blues formed when I combined several layers of Holbein Permanent Yellow Light, Permanent Green, and Viridian, with Winsor Blue (Green Shade), and Daniel Smith Indanthrone Blue.

Another big step forward in my aurora borealis journey, and in all my northern landscape paintings for that matter, is that I feel I have reached the point where I can invent  imaginary scenes that contain believable lakes, rocks, and pine trees.

This was not always the case. In the early years of my art practice, I would rely on a single, perfectly-composed photo to inspire the details of shape, value, and colour in a realistic painting. Forays into imaginative work usually ended in disappointment.

Now, I often imagine the basic layout of a landscape painting, and then search through my photo archives to come up with, for instance, a few perfect pine trees for the focal area, interesting sky colours, a few lake reflection concepts, and ideas for a rocky shoreline.

I can whittle down these choices into a single scene, or create a series of paintings using the same colours but a variety of landscape elements. I might decide a painting should be a night scene with stars, or a sunny autumn morning, or I might add a soft blanket of snow.

Since I like to create the feeling of 'being there' for viewers of my landscape paintings, I also rely on my soul-deep memories from years of exploring the Canadian wilderness by kayak, ATV, snowmobile, truck, and on foot.

This imaginative way of planning and executing paintings has opened up a whole new world of artistic possibilities for me, and I can hardly wait to find out what new excitement the future brings.

If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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I decided to spend a few months this winter and spring focusing on painting cloudy sunset scenes, to try to determine where I had been going wrong in the past, and figure out what strategies might work better.

As I experimented with new painting processes, I was able to confirm, at least for me, that there are three secrets to creating glowing skies. This realization resulted in several ground-breaking paintings, and I learned a lot in the process of painting them.

First, I did some research at the 'University of YouTube', watching instructional videos by a couple of professional watercolour painters I admire greatly. When I reviewed painting approaches used by Birgit O'Connor in her Atmospheric Landscapes online course, and Steven Kozar in his free tutorials on high realism, I realized where I was going wrong. It was mostly about the pace of painting.

As I experimented with new strategies in my paintings, I was able to confirm, at least for me, that there are three secrets to creating glowing skies:

• Do colour tests to make sure the selected paint colours work well together to produce clear, vibrant pigment mixtures when dry.
• Be patient and don't add rich colour to the painting too quickly. Instead, build up colour in gradual layers over many days.
• Add each single layer of colour to wet paper very quickly and step away from the painting well before the paper starts to dry. Resist the urge to fiddle, in other words.

As a result of employing these painting principles, I was able to create the following successful paintings from complex reference photos:

Solstice Sunset, varnished watercolour on 8 x 10 inch panel, captures sunset during the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. The warmth of the sun slowly fades, heralding the beginning of a long dark night.

The contrast of golden radiance and soft purple clouds behind the dramatic silhouettes of old growth trees captures a captivating moment in time and the promise of spring.

The painting was inspired by this photograph I took of the view from my bedroom window last December. The trees grow in the hedgerow between farm fields behind our house, and every morning I look out my window to absorb the beauty of nature.

Click here for more details about Solstice Sunset.

The Wonder of It All, varnished watercolour on 6 x 12 inch panel depicts a glowing sunset over a northern lake. Sometimes I look at a splendid sky and just have to marvel at the artistry of nature. She creates the most marvellous paintings, just using light and water vapour. I am awed by the wonder of it all.

The painting was inspired by this photo of Six Mile Lake in Muskoka, taken by Sharon Hopkirk and used with her gracious permission.

Originally my painting was to depict the entire scene including the puddle on the lake and the bushes in the foreground, but I ran into technical difficulties when the masking film I used damaged the lower half of the paper. I discovered the problem after the sky was completed and realized I would have to crop the painting. I thought the sky was beautiful enough to be the star of the show and invented a simple treeline to give context to the scene.

Click here for more information about The Wonder of It All.

I was still entranced by Sharon's gorgeous photo, and started a second attempt at painting the full scene. I took a photo at the end of each day so I could show you the layering process.

Here on Day 1, a strip of masking tape forms a lower boundary for the sky and the first layer of colour is on.

Day 2 The second layer of colour has been applied, using the first layer as a placement guide.

I start by wetting the watercolour paper with clear water, giving it a minute to soak in, then painting on various colours, and letting them mingle before the paper dries. Paint application has to be done in the space of a minute or so, depending on how much water is used.

Day 3 The third layer of colour is on.

The wet-in-wet process produces lovely soft-edged shapes, but it can be difficult to get the right shapes in the right places, because the paint spreads out beyond where it is initially laid. It takes skill and practice to apply just the right amount of paint to control the spread.

Day 4 The fourth layer is on and the colours are intensifying.

This might seem like an inefficient use of my studio time, to work on a sky painting only a few minutes a day, but I always have several paintings on the go and while one dries I can work on others. 

Over the next three days, I added more golden tones to the sky and puddle, working on wet paper. After that dried several hours, I added more scarlet to individual clouds, working on dry paper and feathering out the edges with a clean wet brush.

Once I was happy with these areas and they were fully dry, I masked out the inner edges of the puddle and painted the blue snow in three layers, drying several hours in between. I stopped when it was dull and dark enough to look like twilight and contrast dramatically with the sky hues. Once dry, I removed the masking.

Day 8 and done! I added the treeline and hills on the far shore, and the twigs in front to complete this painting.

The finished artwork is Crimson Twilight, varnished watercolour on 11 x 14 inch panel. I love the vivid warm orange hues in the sky and reflection, contrasted with the cool dark blue of the snow.

Click here for more information about Crimson Twilight.

Having completed these three sunset scenes successfully, I feel a new confidence in how to approach complex sky subjects. I have added another skill to my repertoire. That is what I love about watercolour: there is always something new to learn, explore, and discover.

If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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Reunited (varnished watercolour on 24 x 24 inch panel), pictured here, was the first artwork I painted this year, but it marked the second time I painted this peaceful, imaginary place.

The first rendition was last August, when I created a small watercolour study while we were exploring northern Ontario in our travel trailer. I framed the 10 x 10 inch painting when I got home and sent it off to one of my galleries in a shipment of new work. The eventual fate of this painting was revealed several months later, thanks to Facebook.

In the meantime, my husband and I did some fall camping. We towed our trailer to Fergus, ON, to join a small gathering of Airstream trailers belonging to the Ontario Unit of the Airstream International Club.

While there, we met many friendly, interesting folk, including a couple who had gutted and rebuilt a vintage Airstream for themselves and their kids. We enjoyed a tour of their awesome trailer and after conversing a while, felt like we had known this guy and gal for a long time. She was very interested in paintings of northern scenery, bought a selection of my Art Cards, and said she would peruse my web site with a mind to possibly choose a painting.

Back at the studio two weeks later, I learned from the gallery that two of the new paintings, including Reunion, had sold to an unspecified buyer.

The next month, I thought of following up with the lady we met at Fergus, but didn't want to appear pushy. I figured we probably would run into the same couple at a future Airstream rally and could see where things might lead from there.

At the end of the year, I posted this collage of my Top Nine favourite paintings of 2022 on Facebook, with a thank you to all my fans and followers.

Of the many posted comments that followed, one woman wrote "Amazing! J**** surprised me for my birthday with two pieces from this collection. I was thrilled!!!! And so lucky. Beautiful!!!!"

As it turned out, her partner had contacted the gallery two weeks after we met in Fergus and bought Reunion as well as the painting in the centre of my Top Nine. I was really happy to learn this, and glad I had not followed up with her in October or I might have spoiled the surprise her partner had in store for her.

I kept thinking about the islands and canoes of Reunion the following month. Apparently the scene wasn't done with me yet, as if it had more to teach me about glowing light, luminous colours, and the quiet power of Nature. I decided to paint a larger version of the scene, and in doing so, spend peaceful hours under the spell of this mystical northern lake. 'Reunited' was the result.

I paused and took a photo now and then throughout the painting process, so I could share with you the visual creation story. Click on the photo below to view the two-minute video.

Working on this piece gave me a chance to practice on my oversized watercolour paper, and I look forward to creating more larger scale pieces. Stay tuned for further painting and travel adventures!

For further details about Reunited, click here.

If you have suggestions or comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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This ambitious painting project - the largest watercolour I have ever done - took me two months to create. It was pure joy to paint, if a bit intimidating, due to the large scale of the piece.

Under normal circumstances, I could have produced eight of my average-sized paintings in this time frame, so it took some bravery on my part to commit two full months to just one painting.

I grew up near Algonquin Park and never tire of painting the rocks of the Canadian Shield, but when each stone is bigger than my head, the logistics of painting on a large scale come into play. I had to use big brushes and work quickly, because the drying rate is the same for painting a large area as a small one.

The painting is titled 'Where Garden Meets Rock', and is mounted on a 40 x 28 inch panel. The subject is my own perennial garden and river stone border beside our driveway.

I took this photo of my garden over a year ago and knew I wanted to paint from it one day. I was excited about the artistic contrast of bright spiky flowers and leaves against the subdued hues of the round river stones.

Even better, the gardener in me understood there was a turf war going on - a slow, silent struggle for territory between living plants and solid rock.

If you have grown these dwarf iris, you know how quickly they spread and how firmly rooted they become. Left alone, the iris will win the battle and start to envelop these stones in just a couple of growing seasons.

Over the last year, I had gathered the materials to make oversized paintings and decided this garden composition was complex enough to justify a large scale artwork.

I was eager to test drive a new brand of watercolour paints, having been awarded a lovely set of Holbein artist-quality paints last summer from the Women in Watercolour International Juried Competition. In the poster below, you can see my 'Bathing Beauties' did Canada proud by winning the Holbein Merchandise Award in the Landscape & Water category. (You can read the creation story for 'Bathing Beauties' here. This painting now graces a home in Pakistan.)

The 300 lb cold pressed watercolour paper I used was made at the Arches paper mill in France. This world-renowned company has been making fine papers since 1492. I could not find a Canadian source for the large format sheets and had to have them shipped to me from the USA.

The cradled birch wood panel, on which the finished painting would be mounted, was custom ordered through an Ontario art supply store and produced by Apollon Gotrick in Quebec. The wood floater frame to match was custom ordered through the same art store and milled from Canadian lumber by a framing supply company in Ontario.

I bought a selection of watercolour wash brushes in the 2-inch and 4-inch sizes, to allow me to apply and blend paint mixtures over large areas quickly.

With all these exciting new materials at hand, I began the iris project in early November, finished the painting by Christmas Eve, and did the mounting, varnishing and framing by New Year's Eve.

I made a 2-minute video showing the steps of this ground-breaking art project. Click on the image below to view the video.

I am very happy I took the time to create a painting that comes from my heart and soul. It embodies two of my favourite pastimes: gardening and studying stones. I learned so much along the way about how water, paint, and paper behave at this scale, and have gained enough confidence to try other large subjects.

My husband has built me a massive paper-stretching board so I can attempt some large-format peaceful lake scenes, the scariest of watercolour subjects. Stay tuned for more of my painting adventures!

'Where Garden Meets Rock' went on display at Eclipse Art Gallery in the prestigious Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, ON right after the varnish dried, and was acquired by a Muskoka art collector a few weeks later.

If you have suggestions or comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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Usually when we travel in the Airstream I fit in a painting day once a week or so, just for the joy of it.

The rest of my time is spent living the simple life with my husband: hiking, kayaking, making healthy meals, and slowly exploring the region in which we find ourselves.

This past summer, with steady sales of my artwork continuing in the galleries back home, I was keen to paint more frequently.

I found the dinette in our trailer (pictured above) to be the perfect spot to set up a simple painting space for a few hours at a time.

By the time we got home and I returned to the art studio, I was able to mount and frame a half dozen new works (pictured here).

In these paintings, I have continued to focus on misty northern lakes, bringing more imaginary places to life, venturing into a moonlit night scene, and branching off (pun intended) into a pile of colourful maple leaves.

This pair of blue lake scenes began as simple blue graded washes for the sky and a few horizontal streaks of blue for the water ripples. It took 3 or 4 layers of paint to build up the colour density I was after. I left large blank white areas in the middle to add some islands and reflections later.

Listen to the Silence, varnished watercolour on 14 x 11 inch panel.

I invented the overlapping blue hills for the background, wetting the bottom edges with clear water to simulate mist.

When that was dry, I painted an imaginary island, again with mist cloaking the shoreline, and a canoe seen coming towards the viewer.

I added a soft reflection under the island so it would not draw the viewer's eye away from the canoe.

Click here for more information about Listen to the Silence.

The Answer Will Come, varnished watercolour on 14 x 11 inch panel.

I knew I wanted an interesting island centred in this piece so I looked through my treasure trove of Lake of the Woods photos. (We visit family there most summers.)

This is the reference I chose, adding some hefty rocks to the front of 'my' island. Again, I added water when painting the bottom of the island, to simulate a foggy shoreline.

The water ripples in the foreground needed more visual interest, so I imagined some smooth underwater stones and painted the shadowy spaces in between them. Then I added a few above-water rocks to lead the viewer's eye between the foreground and the big island. Lastly, I painted in a hazy reverse image for the island reflection.

Click here for more details about The Answer Will Come.

Reunion, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel.

One of my painting buddies goes on an annual canoe trip with a group of women friends, and she was kind enough to supply me with several dozen photos of canoes taken at various places during her trips.

These are a great resource whenever I want to add a canoe into an imaginary scene.

For this painting, I used her reference photo (shown here) for the foreground and invented a couple of islands to make a more interesting scene. I changed the canoe colours and decided to make the season autumn, so the trees would complement the canoes.

Click here for more information about Reunion.

Misty Beginnings, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel.

This painting was inspired by a quick photo I took out of our truck window one summer as we were driving along Hwy 17 north of Lake Superior.

I thought this little point of land on the edge of an island looked interesting.

I imagined a new scene roughly based on the photo, adding more mist, a canoe, more prominent rocks, and individual trees on the point.

Click here for more information about Misty Beginnings.

Some Enchanted Evening, varnished watercolour on 16 x 12 inch panel.

This was an experimental piece, meaning I had no idea if it would be successful or not. I knew I wanted a night scene with lots of deep blues and black, with a yellow full moon and its reflection across the water.

I imagined a slight breeze rippling the water and how the resulting reflections would behave.  I figured the rocks would have some warm tones, coming from moonlight.

I breathed a big sigh of relief when this painting turned out so well.

Click here for more information about Some Enchanted Evening.

Maple Flooring, varnished watercolour on 11 x 14 inch panel.

I took this reference photo decades ago while walking in the woods and have painted from it twice.

It is a simple scene, but that red maple leaf is so wonderfully symbolic of Canada, and it was fun to work with bright colours.

Click here for more information about Maple Flooring.

As cooler weather arrives, I feel my inner energy rising. It's time to get the garden trimmed back and close out the growing season. I look forward to having lots of studio time this fall and winter to create more new paintings, and then share with you the stories behind them.

Which painting is your favourite? If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter for exclusive early access to new work, studio news updates, travel tales, painting tips, and notices of upcoming exhibitions.

The Lodge had a half dozen serviced camping sites adjacent to their cabins, so we reserved a spot for a week in June and brought our travel trailer.

This is the view of the little island from the shoreline of Edgewater Park.

The island looks small and unassuming from this angle, but I suspected from seeing it last winter that the island might be more impressive from other viewpoints.

These Canada geese swam by as I was taking photos from the shore.

They might be just the thing a future painting could use in the foreground.

Luckily, we had our kayaks with us, and on the first calm day of our visit, we went for a paddle along the shore and over to the island.

I had my IPhone on board in a waterproof case so I could take pictures.

My husband, paddling in his kayak ahead of me, made for a good model in some of my photos, helping to show the scale of the landscape. The island looks quite wide from this angle.

As we circumnavigated the island, it was amazing to see how its appearance changed when viewed from different directions, and depending on whether the sun was shining or hidden by a cloud.

The lake water changed its appearance also. Sometimes it was a pale blue, sometimes a deeper blue, and other times the water was so clear we could see the sandy bottom.

There were quite a few different types of evergreens on the island and they made ever-changing groupings as we paddled by.

I particularly like the dynamic cloud and tree reflections in this scene. They would be challenging to paint but worth it.  I think a large scale painting would do this scene justice.

Here are more intriguing cloud and tree reflections. The slanting lines of the waves really catch my eye in this photo.

Parts of the shoreline were rock, which is one of my favourite subjects. The warm tones of the stone contrast nicely with the cooler hues of lake, sky, and trees.

Here are some lovely slabs of rock counterbalanced with a few interesting trees and rustic sheds. I am certain these rocky shorelines and their reflections will make their way into some northern lake paintings one day.

These are just a sampling of the many photos I took of this little island. Each of them is a seed with potential to grow into beautiful artwork one day. Nature is all around us, ready to inspire dozens of paintings. But sometimes, one magic island is enough.

Which scene is your favourite? If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter for exclusive early access to new work, studio news updates, travel tales, painting tips, and notices of upcoming exhibitions.

Usually my realistic landscapes begin with a full sized pencil drawing of the entire scene, based on one or more reference photos, before I apply paint to paper.

The five northern lake scenes pictured here were created this spring with a different strategy that pushed me out of my comfort zone of colour and composition.

I began all of the paintings at the same time, using combinations of purple and gold paint mixtures.

Each artwork would have serendipitous focal areas of glowing light. The location of the glow would determine the placement of the scene's horizon.

After taping my watercolour paper to rigid supports, I brushed on clear water and applied a layer of rich colour on each piece of paper, allowing the colours to blend on the wet surface. This photo shows the first layer complete. I let the paintings dry overnight, then re-wet the surface and added more colour.

I continued to add one layer per day, building up more intense colour over the course of a week.

Working on wet paper is very unpredictable and risky, since paint moves freely on the moist surface and I never know how successful my attempts will be until all the layers have dried.

When luck is on my side, this process can result in beautiful glowing skies and lake reflections. If not, I can turn over the paper and try again on the other side. (Been there, done that, many times!)

Once the backgrounds were done, I continued work on the paintings one at a time over a six-week period, completing each artwork before proceeding to the next.

The largest piece became Nature's Gift, varnished watercolour on 14 x 11 inch panel.

The inspiration for the sky was a photo by a Facebook friend, Noreen Ebel Luce, of a sunset on Lake of the Woods. She gave me permission to use her photo (shown here) as a painting idea.

Once I was happy with my many-layered watercolour sky and lake, I invented a pine tree for the foreground (work in progress pictured below left).

   

I saw that the composition was too heavy on the left side. I needed to either make the tree extend to the right, or add a second tree to the right of the first one. Since watercolour is a transparent medium, I knew I only had one shot at fixing this painting.

To help me decide which option would look better, I took a photo of the artwork in progress and printed out two copies on photocopy paper. Then I used coloured markers to 'test drive' my two ideas (pictured above right).

I liked the single large tree better, so I went with that option to complete the watercolour painting.

For more details about Nature's Gift, click here.

I decided to use the two-tree concept in my next painting, Sunset Duet, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel.

This pair of windblown pines pays tribute to the many beautifully sculpted trees I have seen in the Georgian Bay region. These steadfast conifers have spent a lifetime together, adorning this rocky shore. Hand in hand, they sing a quiet farewell to the setting sun.

I gathered several reference photos I had taken at Georgian Bay and sketched out an imaginary lake scene (shown here). With a few modifications, these morphed into a finished sunset painting.

Click here for more information about Sunset Duet.

Something about islands in a calm northern lake just draws me in. I want to hop in a canoe and get a closer look at the rocks and trees that have found a home there.

This idea resulted in the third painting of the series, Heaven on Earth, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel. 

Searching through my reference archives, I found these three lake photos taken throughout northern Ontario.

Using them as reference, I sketched a composite scene onto my watercolour background, inserting foreground rocks and canoe. Then I painted all the elements in subdued colours to give a feeling of dusky light to the scene.

Click here for more details about Heaven on Earth.

Dawn of a New Day, varnished watercolour on 8 x 8 inch panel, the fourth painting, was taken from my imagination.

Onto my watercolour background I sketched a simple, rocky island and a few trees, with their feet cloaked in a gentle mist.

I made the leafless tree sturdy enough to support a bald eagle, surveying his watery kingdom from a lofty perch. Soft reflections completed the painting.

Click here for more details about Dawn of a New Day.

One Last Look, varnished watercolour on 8 x 8 inch panel was the final painting in the series and the most technically difficult piece.

This scene is Pukaskwa National Park on Lake Superior near Marathon, ON. My husband and I spent a glorious week camping there last summer. Kayaking in Hattie Cove was a special memory of this trip. The surrounding rocky cliffs were so massive and impressive. I didn't want the day to end, and this painting commemorates this special place.

I used these reference photos from our visit, but I took them on a breezy day and my painting had calmer water.

This meant I had to create a whole new set of reflections, based on the physics of how light behaves. I studied a bunch of other reference photos of reflections on waves to understand the concept before completing my painting. I breathed a big sigh of relief when it was done successfully.

For more information about One Last Look, click here.

I hope you have enjoyed this look 'behind the scenes' of what goes on in my art studio. Determining layout concepts and painting approaches are key steps in creating meaningful, beautiful artwork that conveys authentic emotion.

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