One of my favourite things to due is go canoeing first thing in the morning. The lake is quiet and the loons and other wildlife are out looking for breakfast, creating optimal photographing opportunities. This painting was inspired by a trip to Grundy Lake Provincial Park where I saw this scene while canoeing the early morning lake and was instantly taken in by its beauty. Strong temperature and value contrast in the scene caught my eye, I knew then that I would end up painting the scene.
In this first part we mix our base colours, go over the compositional changes I made to the original reference photo and block in our board.
In this second part we continue to blend our areas and finish off blocking in the main island and tree line.
In this part we block in the islands reflection and then move on to building up the upper clouds and sky.