Haliburton Rocks Trees and Colour

Haliburton Rocks, Trees and Colour

36" x 36" - acrylic on canvas - SOLD

Rocky shorelines, trees, and reflections on water are things I am surrounded by each summer in an area called the Haliburton Highland of Ontario. It is a theme I continue to explore and paint every year. I began this particular painting last summer. 

 

The first version appeared on a rectangular - horizontal  canvas, and looked like this (above).

While there were many things I liked about the painting at this point, there were also things I didn't like. I decided to start again but use a square canvas and focus on the areas I thought were the most interesting. 

Comparing the 2 pictures above you can see what I maintained in the square version.

I also decided to limit the palette to blues and greens and at this stage really liked the abstract qualities of the landscape space, and ambiguity as to what exactly was depicted.  

 

 I continued painting however, and reached this point (above) and it seemed much less exciting. I left it for a few months. At some point last fall I began to tinker with the palette and it looked like this....

and I stopped, not really liking it anymore. In July I decided to give myself and it one more chance and painted a skim of whitish paint over the canvas that left the ghost of the original image. I worked from that but also made changes, re-drew and re-worked the shoreline, background trees and reflected shapes. I came to terms with the palette I wanted. I tried to work quickly and not over work any areas. 

I am really happy that I took another stab at this one, and am really happy with the results, especially the richly coloured palette and the arrangement of and contrast between dark and light coloured abstract shapes.  

Thanks for reading and looking!