by Paul | June 25th, 2009
Looking east from the Iona Beach Causeway, Vancouver. B.C. Canada, the wind suddenly came up and large clouds started to accumulate over McDonald Slough. It was short but breathtaking.
I quickly started to lay in the big shapes of the main cloud because I knew that the shape would change and not last long.
I started to mass in the dark grays using both long and shorter brushstrokes. I used a blue gray for the mid tones and white silvery hues for the lights within the large shape in a bravado manner. In the lights I had the Yellow Ochre Imprematura (ground color) show through in sections. This strong earth tone helped to tone the brights down and enrich the darks. Painted on a prepared oil ground board, the brilliancy of the ground added to the luminosity of the painting. The slippery quality of the board aided the looseness and flow of the paint application.
Using a range of Cerulean Blue and Cobalt Blue with Alizarin Crimson and Raw Umber the sky and distant mountains was realized.
A simplified elongated blue gray was used to interpret the strip of water. The green grays of the landmass was painted with swift dashes.
This plein-air painting was all about the weight and movement of the cloud, the rest of the landscape was supportive but secondary.
