Seeing colours

I picked up the book "Hawthorne on painting" from the library. I have always wondered at the about how the colorists were able to see all the colours, and thought maybe the book would tell me how. Well I just finished it, and it doesn't say anything about it. It talks about seeing with your eyes on things as though it's the first time you are looking at it, and that it takes time to learn to see. It talks about carefully studying the relationship between one colour spot to another, and that if your colours are true, the likeness will come with it. The likeness Hawthorne talks about in the book is in a very broad sense. It includes the likeness of a person, the likeness of an object, and even the likeness of the time of day and the feelings, all attribute to the trueness of the colour spots and how they are next to each other. These are all very fascinating ideas, and allowed me to see things in a different way.
I also stumbled upon a few paintings with great use of colours.

Eric Merrell

Daniel Pinkham

Mark Kerckhoff

Maplewood conservation area

I visited Maplewood conservation area for the first time. It is most a mud flat that is revealed during low tide, located in North Vancouver. When the tide is high, there's trails in the deciduous growth for wild life viewing and painting of course. :)

I was there in the morning, tide was nearly at its highest. I saw a deer and then a doe and her fawn by the channel. The joy of being up early (it wasn't that early.)

Mud flats - oil on panel - 6" x 8"

This was my setup. I didn't bring my tripod because I planned on sitting, but the only way for me to capture this way over the rail. I just set the pochade box on the railing with a garbage underneath it for cushioning, worked fine.

It took quite a while to find the second painting that day. I went down to the beach, looking south, there was a beautiful postcard photo view of Vancouver in blue atmosphere and perfect precious blue water, but I could not find a composition that made me excited. I sat there having a mind battle about what to do, and finally I ditched the postcard view. Why paint a pretty painting if it didn't inspire me? Below is what I found after that:

- oil on panel - 6" x 8"

Iona Beach series

I stayed at my parent's place for 2 nights and used it  as a base to paint at Iona beach for 3 days, since their place is quite close to it.
Last month I did a 6" x 8" sketch of this view at Iona beach. There was a lot I loved about this view.

Water way at Iona Island - oil on panel - 6" x 8"

So I decided to do a bigger one at 9" x 12" at about the same time of day. I widened the composition a little as you can see, to show more the expanse of the land.
I was sitting on a tree stump, that gave me a higher vantage point. It took 2 sessions over 2 days to complete. The first day I painted until about 8:30 pm, the sun was going down and the tide was coming in and the tree stump was about flooded, I had to leave before I would get stranded. I went back the next day and finished it.
I would like to do an even bigger version of this, but it will not be easy. The view faces east, and I like the front lit look. While painting these smaller paintings I could use my own shadow on the surface to judge the colours, and I can't do that for a bigger painting. Maybe a studio painting?

Water way at Iona Island - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

In this series, I was enamored not by the sky, nor the mountains, but by the land. I wanted the land to be the main subject. Normally I wasn't very inspired by flat landscape, but during those 2.5 days they were magical to me.

Morning - oil on panel - 6" x 8"

Sand dune at Iona - oil on panel - 6" x 8"

Rhythm in the morning - oil on panel - 6" x 8"

Technique wise, I am using more medium now as I paint, and skipped out on the burnt umber in this series.