Color and Composition Study - Pemaquid

Color and Composition Study - Pemaquid ME

This study is graphite and gouache on paper - 12" x 18"   This painting is a combination of a variety of on location studies, pen and ink composition thumbnails, and represents a combination of views of the region that exist, but not exactly as in this composition.

Some quick notes from doing this study are to extend the tree on the left out of the picture, widen the gap between the river islands, and add a thin line of ocean beyond the mid ground to add some distance - that may also be another composition.  I was not too concerned with colors in this, more just trying to capture an impression.

I plan to do a large watercolor of this as well other media - oil, acrylic, and perhaps charcoal.

https://robertkahlerlandscapepaintings.blogspot.com/2020/03/composition-and-color-study-ammonusuc.html

Mountain Brook Summer

This charcoal is an amalgamation of many trips to the mountains.  The most direct sources of inspiration for this drawing was a trip that Julie and I took in Mid Summer to the Swift River in Maine and along the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire, as well as the riverbed often visible when driving through Farmington Maine. 

One of the areas we stopped in was nearly water free.  The low water (almost absent) added a whole new type of interest to the river scene for me.  I find rivers and water in general to be a fascinating subject.  From reflections of sky and trees, to rapids, to the ebbs and flows of river channels, and of course water falls.  Along the river bed were occasional puddles which reflected the trees, clouds, and sky overhead.  That's a subject (or three) for another day.

In this case I've altered the composition somewhat to allow the viewer to see the river bed.  In reality, the growth along the road was so thick, that you couldn't see the river bed which ran to within a few feet of the tote road.  In exploring the riverbed, there were some areas where the trees obscured the sky above, letting only mottled light through to the rocks below.  It was breathtaking.