Last spring, fortunate folks from around the world were privileged to witness spectacular displays of northern lights.

Many people posted their photos of this cosmic magic online so the rest of us could enjoy it too.

Several of my previous clients were caught up in the excitement of these celestial sightings and asked me if I would create some paintings of northern lights to add to their collections.

This inspired me to produce a series of eleven aurora paintings this spring and summer. Six pieces were done in more traditional green and blue hues. The other five artworks were inspired by the pinks, oranges, and yellows seen in recent aurora events.

All eleven scenes are imaginary places, but their details come from my close observation of nature. It takes at least five layers of paint to build up the intense colour and soft transitions of the aurora skies. (Not to mention lots of practice, and several failed attempts, to determine the right painting strategy!)

Let me introduce you to this new group of paintings.

Sky Magic (commission), varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel (sold). Northern lights curve through the heavens, echoing the rolling hills of a winter wonderland. Sturdy northern trees nestled in snowy beds create bold silhouettes against this magical sky.

Sky Dance, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel $600. Northern lights waltz across the night sky in a luminous cosmic dance. Their glorious hues and shapes contrast dramatically with a stark winter landscape. Click here to see framed views of this painting.

Passing Through, varnished watercolour on 11 x 14 inch panel $900. Northern lights are an awe-inspiring sight. They billow and flow over the wintry land, quickly passing through the night skies as we gaze on in wonder. Click here for more information about this artwork.

Northern Frolic, (commission) varnished watercolour on 4 x 6 inch panel (sold). Sometimes the aurora appear in spring or fall when lakes are open to reflect the lively celestial dance.

Northern Delight, (commission) varnished watercolour on 4 x 6 inch panel (sold). This small painting was a test piece for a larger composition, but turned out well enough to stand on its own merits.

Royalty on the Ridge, varnished watercolour on 16 x 20 inch panel (sold). This painting came about when I wondered what northern lights would look like combined with two iconic northern features - white pines and a rocky ridge. Adding a full moon completed the majestic scene. This piece has found a home with a collector in South Dakota.

Evening Magic (commission), varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel (sold). Last spring, the pinks and yellows of the aurora were unusual and amazing, especially when reflected on peaceful northern lakes. This painting now resides in Czechoslovakia.

Evensong (commission), varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel (sold). It was pure joy to work with these intense colours. They contrast dramatically with the starry night sky and the trees on this wee island.

Watching the Show, varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel $650. This display of colourful northern lights shines through the night sky like a prism. White pines angled down the hill remind me of stadium seating at a concert. They have a front row seat for the cosmic performance. Click here to see framed views of this piece.

Witnessing Wonder, varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel $650. Northern lights dance across the night sky in rippling rays of prismatic colour. Like the venerable white pine in the foreground, we are privileged to witness this celestial wonder. Click here for more details about this painting.

Springtime Aurora, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel $600. In this scene, glowing hues of the aurora contrast dramatically with tree-covered islands in a vast northern lake. Click here to see framed views of this artwork.

I hope you have enjoyed this parade of new paintings. It was very satisfying to imagine and invent beautiful wild places bathed in spectacular aurora light.

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I subscribe to The Art of Watercolour magazine, which is published quarterly in France and circulated to over 30,000 readers worldwide. Each issue is packed with articles about watercolour artists from around the globe, describing their methods and inspiration for their paintings.

In each issue the publishers announce a themed competition into which each reader may submit up to three watercolour paintings.

All submissions are posted on line and readers vote for their favourite paintings. The votes are tallied, and the 100 paintings with the most votes are published in the next magazine issue.

Since I began entering paintings into this competition three years ago, I have been blessed to have ten of my watercolours voted into the Top 100 in five different issues. Those winners are pictured together at the top of this post.

When I received the 54th magazine issue (June 2024) in the mail recently, I was delighted to see two of my paintings featured in in it.

The theme was 'Capturing the Light of a Summer Scene'. My winning watercolours are Simply Superior (24 x 12 inches) a Lake Superior beach scene which placed in the top 20, and The Golden Hour (10 x 10 inches), a misty sunrise scene at the Richardson family's cottage on Big Cedar Lake.

 

Earlier this year, I was thrilled to learn that all three of the monarch butterfly paintings I entered in a 'Wildlife' themed competition were voted into the Top 100 in the 48th issue (January 2023). Even more astounding: they all placed in the top 50.

The paintings are Superior Monarch (10 x 10 inches), Time to Head South (16 x 20 inches), and Sacred Spirit (10 x 10 inches).

The previous summer, my watercolours Bathing Beauties (20 x 16 inches) and Mystical Morning (12 x 16 inches) were voted into the Top 100 of issue #46 (June 2022).

The theme of this competition was 'Summer Light' and it attracted over ten thousand votes.

When I received the magazine and saw my lake superior beach scene actually placed tenth, I was over the moon. The misty lake scene with canoe was inspired during a cruise I took on Lake Muskoka.

The previous winter, the competition theme was 'Winter Atmosphere' in the 43rd issue (Dec 2021).

My winter scene Moonglow (20 x 16 inches) was voted into the Top 100. (It placed in the top 40.)

This is one of my all time favourite winter scenes. It was inspired by a photo, taken by northern Ontario photographer James Shedden, and used with his permission.

In this piece, a vintage cabin sits nestled in the quiet of a winter forest, under the warm glow of a full moon. Two venerable conifers stand guard as branches creak and wind sighs softly through a gentle night.

The previous summer, my maritime paintings Reflections of Yesterday (12 x 16 inches) and Guardians of the Bay (12 x 12 inches) were voted into the Top 100 paintings in the magazine's 42nd issue (July 2021). They were inspired by my trips to PEI and Newfoundland.

The theme of the competition was 'Urban Landscapes and Seascapes' and almost 20,000 votes were cast.

It is gratifying to know that artists, art show organizers, gallery owners, art societies and collectors from around the world see some merit in paintings that spring from my heart and soul. This international recognition makes me feel that I am making art that matters, that celebrates something worthy, and that people care about. 

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Today is International Rock Day, a fitting time to share the inspiration behind four of my recent paintings.

Each of them grew from my exploration of the rocky shores of northern Ontario lakes. These places restore my soul and I look forward to spending time near beautiful northern lakes each year.

Superior Sapphire, varnished watercolour on 24 x 12 inch panel, $1400.

This painting was an imaginary night scene, composed using elements from three actual places I visited. Pictured below are my reference photos.

The first photo is the boulder-strewn shoreline of Lake Superior at Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, taken in 2017 when we camped near this beach.

The second photo captures a beautiful full moon over Lake Ontario. We were camped just steps from this beach at Quinte Isle Campark in 2020.

The third photo I selected for its overhanging branches. We were hiking the shoreline trail at Solitaire Lake near Huntsville, ON in 2022.

Click here for more information about Superior Sapphire.

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. 

The patterns in these smooth rock slabs and the windswept trees are an artist's dream to paint. They have inspired many artworks over the years, including the three shown here.

A Place to Dream, varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel, $650.

Pictured below are the two reference photos I used. The first one was for the foreground and middle ground of the composition. The second photo provided the background islands as well as the colour and texture of the water.

For more information about A Place to Dream, click here.

A Place of the Heart, varnished watercolour on 14 x 11 inch panel, $900.

I had a choice of two photos as reference for this scene. They were taken in morning light and evening light. I felt the first shot did a better job of showcasing the foreground rock slab, so this is the photo I referenced as the painting progressed.

I altered the shape of the large island to place it entirely in the composition, and added some rocky islands in the middle to lead the viewers eye to the island. I changed the shape and size of the trees to make them more dramatic.

Click here for more information about A Place of the Heart.

The Windy Shore, varnished watercolour on 20 x 16 inch panel, $1500.

This is one of my all-time favourite paintings. The sinuous lines in the rocks lead the viewers eye into the scene and up through the wind-sculpted tree. I love the contrast of warm stone with the blue waters of Georgian Bay.

I used three reference photos to create my composition. The first one was the main reference, and I emphasized light and shadow on the rocks.

I used the second photo to see more details of the headland.

The third photo provided the cloudy sky and a handsome windswept pine tree.

For more details about The Windy Shore, click here.

I hope you have enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at how I explore beautiful wild places and transform those experiences into paintings that embody the soul-deep connection I have with this land.

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 am happy to share that Starting Over, varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel, has found a new home. Thank you and congratulations to the collector and to Colborne Street Gallery by Tim + Chris in Fenelon Falls, ON. This painting has an interesting back story. It took five years to complete.

Why so long? It began its journey as a demonstration painting for my beginner watercolour workshops in the spring of 2018. Pictured below are students in class, with my painting in its early stage laying on the table in front of them.

I continued to work on this demonstration painting during several more pebble workshops. Once classes were done that year, I put the painting aside because I didn't like the colours. The leaf was dull and dark and didn't contrast with the pebbles enough.

Since watercolour is a transparent medium, any new layers of colour I might add would just increase the dullness and darkness. The pebbles had good shape and composition but the colours were all too similar.

The painting languished in a drawer in my studio for five years until I came across it one day. I thought I really should do something with this piece, or scrap it.

Then in the middle of the night, the solution came to me: coat the leaf in acrylic absorbent ground medium, which creates a white surface with properties similar to virgin watercolour paper, and begin again with fresh colour.

The next day, I started over on the leaf using warm autumn tones, added glazes of colour to make each pebble unique, and deepened the shadows in the crevices. The painting was much richer looking and the leaf stood out from the background.

I titled the painting Starting Over, referring to the rebooting of its creation journey, and to the theme of rebirth implied by the fallen leaf beside the seed of new life.

This painting story is a lesson in patience and tenacity for us all. Sometimes we just need time to ponder our options and come up with a new way forward.

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If you are familiar with my artwork, you know that my paintings often feature the distinctive rock and stone of the Canadian Shield region. This past winter, I took some time to delve into this subject in a BIG way.

From January to March, I worked bit by bit on the largest watercolour landscape I ever have done. The subject was one of my favourite pebble beaches on Lake Superior.

Each of the stones in this scene required 3 to 6 layers of paint to achieve a realistic result. My goal was to create pebbles so true-to-life that you want to reach in and pick one up to examine its wonders.

I took the reference photos for this project in the summer of 2022, when my husband and I visited Marathon on the north shore of Lake Superior. The primary reference was the photo above, showing him looking down at the beach stones.

I love the way his silhouette contrasts with the foggy treeline as it disappears into the misty background. I had to lay down on the stones to capture the camera angle I wanted, where all the lines converged on that distant figure.

I also took about fifty other photos of individual stones with unusual patterns and striking colours I found elsewhere on this beach. These became very useful as I worked on the final stages of my painting, so I could insert some of these more interesting features into the foreground stones.

The most difficult part of this scene, believe it or not, was the forest. I knew I had to get that right before I invested weeks and weeks into painting stones.

Portraying masses of tree foliage has always been a challenge for me, but I took it one step at a time, beginning with the misty sky and water in the distance and working forward to the more vibrant deep greens on the left side of the painting.

Shown here is the finished artwork, 'I Think I Found One', varnished watercolour on 28 x 40 inch panel. I breathed a happy sigh of relief when this one was done!

Over the three months of this project, I remembered to take a photo of my work in progress at the end of each painting session. Recently I assembled the photos into a time lapse video showing the sequencing of my work on this piece. Click on the image below to view the 2-minute video.

I developed a profound bond with this painting during our time together as its creation journey unfolded. It represents important aspects of my life: a love of travel and exploring new places together, a fascination with stones, and an enduring connection with Lake Superior.

For the time being, I am keeping this special painting in our home, to enjoy every day. At some point in the future, this piece will tell me when I can let it go to its forever home.

Prints of this painting are available in a variety of sizes on canvas, paper, and other substrates from my print-on-demand publisher Fine Art America. Click here to see the selection.

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For three solid months this past winter, I worked on the largest landscape painting I ever have created. I am delighted to share the finished work with you here. My husband came up with a great title: I Think I Found One.

The scene shows him on Pebble Beach in Marathon on Lake Superior, a magical place that has inspired many of my paintings. Each stone in this 28 x 40 inch watercolour painting required 3 to 6 layers of paint. 

This master work has touched my soul so profoundly that have reserved the original to enjoy in our home, at least for a while. But, fear not, I have worked behind the scenes to make this image available for everyone to enjoy.

Partnering with Fine Art America (FAA), the world's largest print-on-demand technology company, I selected an exciting series of products that will feature this landscape image. I call this series the 'I Think I Found One' Collection, or ITIFO for short.

Pictured above in a living room setting is the largest canvas giclee print I ever have offered for one of my landscape paintings. This ITIFO canvas print is wrapped around a wooden cradle that is five feet wide.

ITIFO prints can be ordered in a range of sizes from 7 x 10 inches to 42 x 60 inches. Choose your print on canvas, metal, acrylic or wood panels, or even a tapestry, to suit any decor style or budget. Shown below is a 14 x 20 inch metal print in a kitchen setting.

The beauty of working with Fine Art America, is that each print order is custom made to your specifications. FAA will deliver it right to your doorstep, usually within a week or two, shipped from their nearest manufacturing facility.

FAA production centres are in Canada, USA, UK, Netherlands, and Australia. They sell thousands of pieces of high quality products each month - all with a 30-day money-back guarantee.  

Pictured here is the largest framed archival paper print in the ITIFO Collection. This example has overall dimensions of 42 x 56 inches, but can be ordered in a range of sizes starting at 13 x 16 inches, with a wide selection of frame styles. Unframed art prints and posters are available too.

But that is not all...

My ITIFO Collection includes the other home decor and lifestyle wares pictured below.

To see all the options offered in this new collection, click on the Shop Now button below. It will take you to my ITIFO Collection order page at Fine Art America.

I hope you find something to your liking. If you have any questions, contact me and I will be happy to assist. Thank you for supporting my artist's life.

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 if you wish to see more of her latest artwork, painting stories, travel tales, studio news updates, and notices of upcoming shows and events.

If you are like me, whenever this time of year rolls around I yearn to see fresh colour.

Even though the browns and grays of winter still cloak the landscape around me, I am excited to witness the vibrant spectrum of life returning to my world.

Since the full flush of spring is still weeks away, this is the perfect time to bask in rainbow-hued memories from our travels last year. Care to join me?

In this post I am sharing three amazing places we discovered, and they all have to do with extraordinary glass hand-crafted by world class artisans.

Please take a seat, enjoy some exuberant artistic creations, and maybe add these places to your bucket list.

#1: Museum of Glass (Tacoma, Washington)

This premier contemporary art museum opened in 2002, focused exclusively on the work of local glass artist Dale Chihuly. The Museum has since expanded its mission to include works in glass by contemporary artists worldwide.

The Museum of Glass houses the West Coast’s largest and most active Museum Glass studio, which hosts many artists-in-residence and allows visitors to watch them create art from molten glass.

To say the current exhibits of glass art took my breath away would be an understatement. The ever-growing permanent collection as well as travelling exhibits were astounding.

The wall art piece shown below by Amber Cowan is titled Creamer and Sugar, Swans in Sky and measures perhaps two metres across. I added a close up photo for better viewing of this remarkable piece.

Amber starts with historic American pressed glass, like you might find at a thrift store, or in your grandmother's china cabinet. She takes these commonplace items and revitalizes them into an intricate wonderland, by adding hot-sculpted, flame-worked, and blown glass details.

These botanical orbs are blown glass with flame-worked elements by Paul Stankard and each measures about 10 cm in diameter. I looked at these and wondered how on earth he managed to encase intricate glass vignettes in solid clear glass.

Paul is an internationally acclaimed artist and pioneer in the Studio Glass movement. He is considered a living master in the art of the paperweight, and his work is represented in more than 70 museums around the world.

Dale Chihuly is arguably the most famous contemporary glass artist in the world. His name draws vast crowds to site-specific glass installations across the globe as well as to art galleries and museums internationally. His technical and design innovations played a leading role in forming the current perception of glass as fine art.

Pictured here is his Gibson Chandelier at the Museum. It is over three metres tall and two metres wide. A close up photo of it is shown at the beginning of this article.

The city of Tacoma recognized and honoured its native son and glass maker with the spectacular Chihuly Bridge of Glass. This unique pedestrian bridge houses over 2,000 of his glass creations and crosses over a freeway to connect the Museum with downtown Tacoma.

I took this video of the Bridge to try and capture the sheer wonder of it. Click the image below and be amazed.

#2: Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company (Kokomo, Indiana)

My husband and I were thrilled to have a factory tour of the oldest art glass company in America, as part of our Made in USA guided Airstream caravan last fall.

Kokomo Opalescent Glass is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of art glass. Founded in 1888, they are the oldest producer of hand cast, cathedral, and opalescent glass in the USA and are known worldwide for their high-quality, hand mixed sheet glass. One of their early customers was Louis Comfort Tiffany, and KOG estimates that 75% of the world’s churches contain it’s glass. 

In this video, I share with you their process of making hand mixed sheet glass, and a sampling of the colourful results in the KOG warehouse. Click on the image below to view.

#3: The Henry Ford American Glass Collection

If you have not visited The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, I suggest you add it to your list of 'Amazing Places to See'.

We spent two days there during our Made in USA Airstream caravan and plan to go back next year to experience more of its wonders.

The scale and excellence of this world class museum and 80-acre historic artisan village is simply astounding.

There are four working farms growing crops, raising livestock, and cooking meals using recipes from pioneer times. Skilled artisans throughout Greenfield Village are dressed in period costume and practice authentic period crafts and trades.

The Henry Ford’s American glass collection is one of the most comprehensive in the USA, numbering approximately 10,000 objects.

About 700 pieces of the collection are on display in the Davidson-Gerson Gallery of Glass, a converted 1888 machine shop in the Liberty Craftworks District of Greenfield Village.

Nearby is the Glass Shop, where visitors can see and talk to glass blowers demonstrating their craft.

The Gallery traces the history of American glass making from the 1700's through to the present. I was pleased to see a wide array of functional glass, including everyday products like Pyrex and canning jars, as well as beautiful glass art.

There were gorgeous works by important artists like Louis Comfort Tiffany and contemporary masters of the Studio Glass movement.

Shown here is Fireside Yellow and Red Persian by Dale Chihuly. It is a collection of glass pieces resting in a free-form glass vessel about a metre in diameter and a half metre tall. Imagine forming all that by hand from molten glass!

I hope you have enjoyed this colourful tour of exceptional glass destinations and that you have a chance to visit them in person if your travels take you near these locales.

Glass creations, whether made to function as part of our daily lives, or simply for the sheer beauty of their form and colour, cannot help but lift your spirits. Just like the advent of spring after a long winter! :)

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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This year I have been spending lots of quality time in my art studio, working on a half dozen large paintings.

The four new watercolours pictured here with me are part of this collection and share an interesting coincidence.

When my husband and I were travelling in the Airstream last summer, I was able to make only small paintings at our dinette. About four months into the trip, I started to yearn for my roomy home studio so I could create some larger, more impactful paintings.

In this state of mind, I perused my digital folder of hundreds of finished paintings going back 30+ years and made a list of a few dozen extraordinary images that I felt would be suited to large-scale paintings.

In other words, I planned to employ the original paintings as preliminary studies for big, exciting scenes that still hold a piece of my soul, using skills that (I hope) have been honed to higher levels of excellence.

I am so excited to share with you the re-imagined works I have painted this winter.

We Are All Connected, varnished watercolour on 24 x 24 inch panel, $1800.

This is the third stone circle I have painted and the largest so far.

All my stone circle paintings symbolize unity and the stripes on the stones represent the traits we share that connect us together, even though we are unique as individuals. My hope is that we focus on what unites us, rather than what divides us.

For details on availability of We Are All Connected, click here.

The first two stone circle versions were each 12 x 12 inches, inspired from actual striped pebbles from my own collection, and completed in 2018.

They are Circle of Kindred Spirits and Unbroken. Both titles were suggested by my Facebook followers and both paintings found new homes.

The Unbroken image was licensed in 2019 for an album cover by Canadian gospel singer/songwriter Terry Posthumus, who also acquired the original painting to display in his recording studio. You can read about this fascinating art/music journey here: The Unbroken Story - Why My Painting is on an Album Cover

Winter's Embrace, varnished watercolour on 20 x 16 inch panel, $1500 (shown left).

This painting is a reinterpretation of Snow Flurries (pictured below), an imaginary 12 x 8 inch scene I painted in 2004, that was inspired by many snowmobile adventures in the Ontario wilderness.

Even though this is a winter scene, it feels cozy and inviting to me. The pillowy snow and the warm tones of birch tree, creek, clouds, and shrubs make the viewer feel welcome and sheltered.

For information about availability of Winter's Embrace, click here.

Untouched, varnished watercolour on 12 x 24 inch panel, $1400 (shown above). This painting captures the soft, rosy light of a calm winter morning at the lake. Stately white pines cluster quietly on a rocky island, listening for the faintest whisper of the wind. For details about this painting's availability, click here.

Untouched is a reinterpretation of Enchantment (shown below), a 5 x 14 inch painting I created in 2006.

My initial inspiration was a photo I took back in the 1990's (shown below), on a snowmobile trip in northern Ontario.

This is a photo of my booth at the 2006 Buckhorn Fine Art Festival, where Enchantment was sold to a collector. It is the tiny painting in the middle of the far right wall. In those days, I was framing my watercolours with mats and glass. Now I mount them on art boards and varnish with a UV blocking coating, eliminating the need for glass. You can read about my framing process in this article: Framing Watercolours Without Glass.

Superior Stillness, varnished watercolour on 16 x 20 inch panel, $1500, captures a twilight moment, when majestic trees are silhouetted against a simple sunset and everything is quiet. Water laps gently against the rocky shore as moon and stars look on from above.

The location is Picture Rock Harbour in Pukaskwa National Park, which is on the shore of Lake Superior near Marathon, ON. Places like this make my spirit soar. For information on availability of Superior Stillness, click here.

This is the third time I have painted this scene, and it resonates so powerfully with me, I feel like I could paint it again sometime in the future. This artwork celebrates all I hold dear about northern scenery: vast skies, clear blue water, smooth stones, and hardy pine and spruce trees.

The first two interpretations of the scene were created in 2020. They were titled Be Still (8 x 8 inches, shown left), and And Time Stood Still (12 x 16 inches, pictured below right).

The inspiration for all three paintings was a photo taken by Tania Bortolon Krysa, who I met through Facebook. Tania loves the same kind of wild places that I do and takes excellent photos during her adventures.

She was on a back country camping trip and her party stayed overnight in tents on this beach. She graciously granted me permission to use her stunning sunset photo (shown left) as reference for my artwork.

I hope you have enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at my recent paintings. There are many ways to interpret the beauty of nature as works of art. I am finding new avenues to express my deepest, heartfelt admiration for this rugged land that speaks to my soul. Stay tuned for more of my re-creations in this new collection.

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 if you wish to see more of her painting stories, travel tales, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming exhibitions.

In my last post, I told the story behind my painting Yesterday's Dreams, which was inspired by a vintage gas pump we saw on our last trip to Newfoundland.

Today I am sharing the creation story of another painting inspired by the same trip.

I took some artistic licence and combined two scenes into one that celebrates the beauty and grandeur of the rugged west coast of Newfoundland.

My photo of a tree growing from a rocky cliff was taken on the Port au Port peninsula near Stephenville, and my photo of large boulders was from Gros Morne National Park.

My painting began with a detailed pencil drawing on 300 lb watercolour paper.

I did some colour test swatches and selected four Sennelier paints for this project: Sennelier Red, Sennelier Yellow Deep, Phthalocyanine Blue, and Ultramarine Light. Every colour in the painting was mixed from these pigments.

With clear water, I dampened the watercolour paper where the sky would be, working right through the trees on the cliff and the mountains on the far shore. Then I painted horizontal strokes of greys and blues to simulate clouds with a bit of blue sky peeking through.

Once the sky dried, I mixed a neutral grey and painted the shadows on the cliff while I could see my pencil lines clearly. (Many artists would paint the rock colours first and the shadows second but I do the reverse.) I blurred the paint lines where needed with a second brush loaded with clear water. 

I wet each boulder, one at a time, and painted graduated shadows to give the effect of spherical volume.

Using three different green mixtures, I painted the tree foliage, paying attention to placement of the light and dark shapes. This section turned out better than I hoped. I used to find general foliage masses exceedingly difficult, but I kept observing trees and practising painting them... for a few decades... and they gradually began to look more realistic.😁

Then I painted the tree trunks and golden tones of the cliff.

I added more tans and browns to the rock face, sprinkling some table salt on the larger masses to create a mineral effect. I did the same on the boulders. Once the salt dried I brushed it off.

I used a dull navy blue to paint the mountains on the far shore, making sure to keep the horizon (the top of the water) straight and level. Then I added the purple-grey undersides of the waves and let everything dry fully.

I added another layer of colour to deepen the mountains on the far shore. After that dried, I carefully placed the colours of the ocean in horizontal bands of blues and tans, in between the white foam tops of the waves (which were left the colour of the paper).

More details of cracks and shadows were added to the cliff face.

Once the ocean section was dry, I added the brown reflections in the lower right.

To complete the painting, I added more colour and texture to the cliff face, and painted stripes and deeper shadows on the boulders.

I titled the painting Guardians of the Bay (varnished watercolour on 12 x 12 inch panel). It took me six days to paint this scene, and it was acquired by a collector of my work before the paint was dry.

I always will have a soft spot for this artwork, as it captures wonderful memories of the summer we spent in Newfoundland.

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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