Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In-Complete

It's always a bittersweet moment when I finish a painting. There is a bit of relief and some sadness. When you spend so much time planning/working on a piece it becomes a part of you. I glance over the image, do some touchups and highlight some key areas.

This is a commission for a friend, so I personalize it and put her name on the blue boat.

My final work on the image is my name. I now need to put a protective spray down, put it into the frame and we are complete.

Enjoy the journey.

Robert Krysak
 

Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In

 I mix the blue from the sky with the blue and green from the ocean and begin to layer in the reflections. Following the shoreline, the boats, and the buildings, I lay down a light wash, adding little quiver lines to mimic the moving water.

As everything dries my eyes dance around the image, looking for areas that need better definition or detail.

Leonard Cohen playing in the background.

Enjoy the journey.

Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In

 I am closer to the finish than the beginning of this painting. My eyes dance around the canvas, looking for areas to either add colour or highlight. One of the final things I will do is brush in the reflections on the water of the docks/boats etc. 

I will then do one final journey around the painting, looking for areas that need a boost of colour or detail.

I can hear the seagulls cawing as they hover around the docks waiting for scraps of fish.

Listening to Radio Paradise in the background.

Enjoy the journey.

Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In

 The brush now dances from one part of the painting to another. On the right side, I shade in New Gamboge for the rocks, then layer in thin brushstrokes of grass. Along the dock, I add Sepia and Paynes grey to darken areas and also to give contrast to the weathered wood of the docks.

I've been hovering over the painting for a while.......time to step back, stretch and focus on other activities. When I come back to the image I want to focus more on shading in and highlighting the dock area. Many lobster pots to sketch in!

Enjoy the journey.

Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In

 

Watching a painting evolve is in some ways the same as watching your child grow or a seed sprout into a plant. As you focus on it, nurture it, you see subtle changes that grow before your eyes. I dance from one side of the painting to another, working on boats, docks, and the shoreline.

There's an October chill in the air in the mountains today. A greyness that precedes a change in the weather. Due to a bike crash, I have 24 screws in my elbow that let me know about the change of weather as they react to barometric pressure change.

Time to get back to the painting listening to CKUA in the background.

Enjoy the journey.

Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In

Now the work begins. When painting the sky and ocean I was able to use larger brushes and bolder brush strokes. Now it is time for smaller brushes, a steady hand and detail. I layer in different colours on the weathered buildings. Paynes Grey, Alizarin Crimson, various shades of blue and green.......the painting begins to grow. I can dance from one side of the image to the other, layering in colour, and as it dries in one spot I move on to another.

In the background listening to CKUA.

Enjoy the journey
 

Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In

 You have to have patience when you paint with watercolour.......not one of my best traits I've been told;) I build layer upon layer of colour on the ocean. Each layer has to dry, so I step back and work on another piece. I finally get the deepness of colour I am looking for. Layers of blue with hints of Undersea Green.

Time to let the ocean dry. Once I have completed the village a may go back to the water and add highlights.........we'll see as things progress.

I am deep into Peggys Cove and enjoying the journey. Radio paradise is playing in the background.

Enjoy the journey.

Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In

 I brush down a layer of clean water where the ocean is. I then brush in layers of Phthalo Turquoise, starting at the top and adding more pigment as the colour runs out. The goal is to layer the paint, and you have to put lighter layers down first then add darker. You need to leave white spaces to capture the subtle changes in water as a wave/ripple rolls in. I'll let this dry and then add a darker layer of Phthalo, possibly adding some undersea green.

Listening to CKUA in the background.

Enjoy the journey.

Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In

 I'm always a bit nervous before I put brush to paper. It's like being at the top of the white expanse of a ski slope powder skiing, and your turns ark across the landscape. When painting, once you start, there is no going back. I prep some French Ultramarine Blue and Paynes Grey. Then I take my largest brush and wet down the paper. This technique is called wet-on-wet, as I will lay the colours onto the wet paper. You have to be careful, as the paper absorbs a lot of the colour. Paint too light and you can't see the colour.......too dark and it's hard to lighten up.

My brush dances across the paper, the blue splashing down in some areas, the grey in others. The cove can be a moody place, so I want some blue sky as well as grey wraiths of clouds. I try to keep the colour above the village lighter as I want the weathered shacks to be the focal point as well as the boats. I grab a ball of tissue paper and dab areas to pull off the paint and give the feeling of clouds.

Once the paper has dried I take a special eraser and pull off the masking fluid between the sky and the village. You can see a definitive line between the two spaces. Next, I will layer in the ocean in the foreground.

Enjoy the journey.

Peggys Cove-The Fleet is In

 One of my favorite places in the world is Seabright, Nova Scotia. Good friends of ours live there and we have spent many days on their dock and playing in St. Margarets Bay.

Down the road from Seabright is another favorite place, Peggy's Cove. I have been there many times. Whether we are basking in bright sunshine, getting pounded by an Atlantic storm, or lost in thick fog, the cove is a special place.

I have captured Peggys Cove in a few paintings. Recently a friend from Banff asked if one of the pieces was still available and I said it had sold. After a few emails, showing her some of the different renditions I have done, she picked the image she liked. I am calling this new image The Fleet is In. Attached is the photo I am working on to create The Fleet is In.

I am working with 300 lb. Arches watercolour paper, one of the heaviest. I tape down the paper to my artboard. Once you add water/paint to the paper it can bend a bit, so my goal is to have a flat surface to work with. Looking at my photo on my laptop I then begin drawing in the foundation of the painting.....buildings/boats/crab pots. The goal is to not overdraw and clutter the image.

The next part of the painting is to use a liquid masking fluid. I lay this down with a thin brush. The masking fluid gives you separation between different layers and colours. Once it dries, you can paint an area with your colour/colours of choice. Once you peel it off you have a very clear definitive line between sky, buildings and water. As I let this dry I start planning on how I will tackle the sky. Will it be a bluebird day with bright sunshine, dark ominous Atlantic sky or deep fog? Will see which way the brush wants to go. 

Enjoy the journey.

Cobalt Lake-The Bugaboos

 As we roll thru October I want to update you on Cobalt Lake. I was late getting it to market and people had already made their donations. In the end, I decided to give the painting to Dani, as it was his subject choice and the project was for him in the first place. Dani is still battling Long Covid, and we wish him all the best to a full recovery. 

My Fall focus is a new website to sell my work, new paintings, and plans for a show in 2022. My brother Terry, a talented artist in his own right, passed this September. He leaves behind some finished watercolour paintings and some unfinished pieces that I will complete. The show will feature his work, our work and my work. I will donate some of the proceeds to a worthy cause.

Enjoy the journey

Robert Krysak