Even when I don't have a completed painting to show, there is always lots of enjoyment and learning that goes on and I am confident that I will put these two quick acrylic studies to good use at some point in the future.
Day One
On Day One I set up facing the Champlain bridge that connects Ottawa to Gatineau in order to paint the stromatolites that are visible in August when water levels are low.
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| My easel |
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| Stromatolites |
The Ottawa stromatolite remnants are over 450 million years old! If you believe, like I do, that landscape is a wild and living thing, these rocks carry in them quite a story!
Landscape as a Wild and Living Thing
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| Transcript: John O'Donohue: The Inner Landscape of Beauty |
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| Thumbnail sketch: the "Why?" |
In my art journal, I started to play with value compositions where I define my light, medium and dark areas.
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| Watercolour sketch to test out value design
Values: Light foreground and light tree, dark midground
and medium background
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| Photograph of location |
I realized, after I had set up, that I had forgotten some essential painting supplies when I hurried out the door. Important things like a palette and my titanium white. I managed to make a palette out of a tin I had in my sketch bag but there was nothing I could do about forgetting Titanium white!
So I decided to paint Fauve style for this quick study. I think the fauve study composition is interesting with the values reversed?
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| Day 1: Two hour study: Stromatolites Fauve style (values reversed) |
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| Shetch from previous blog post Value Does All The Work and Colour Gets All The Glory |
Day Two
On Day Two I approached the scene from a different angle and here is what I painted:
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| Day 2: Two hour study |
In some ways, the parched and pale look of the stromalite foreground (and the tree) really demonstrates the fact that stromalites are the oldest living things on earth. I felt I needed to paint them in colours that reflected their age and refelected the ancient conversation they have held with the Ottawa river over time.
I only had four hours to paint and sketch and I took many breaks to chat with the wonderful visitors that wondered off the shore on Day Two. The visitors were:
- a father and son catching minnows
- two men who had apparently read an article about the Ottawa stromatolites and decided to make the trip
- a group of university students who came with maps that they had printed online (links below)
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| Group of students on trip to see stromatolites. |
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| My duck friends |
Stromatolite Links
- Blog: Stromatolites du Transitway, à Ottawa
- Carleton University: Ottawa-Gatineau geological field trips
- Carleton University: Balloon View of Stromatolites
- Ottawa Riverkeeper:Paleontological Highlights
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| Carleton University |
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