This 8x10 oil was painted a few weeks ago, on a beautiful sunny fall day. I went to Braddock Bay park and set up at the end of a short walkway that extends out into the marsh. I've always had trouble painting marsh grass in the fall...never able to get the color right. I first tried painting a different view (to the left of this one), and actually painted it twice...quite unsuccessfully. I was getting tired, but when I looked to the north the dried marsh grasses glowing in the sun called to me. The colors were extremely intense this day - the water an incredible dark blue, the grasses glowing orange/yellow, all contrasted by the dull greens and yellows of the distant tree line.
I quickly put in the sky, water, and trees...then realized I still had 75% of the canvas left, and it was all marsh grass! Thinking about past failures, I decided to try two things differently - using a palette knife, and pushing the colors in the grass. I really like the result.
1 comment:
The marsh grass is really great and so are the distant trees. For me, I get "stuck" on the very dark water and that draws too much of my attention. I'm sure it looked just that dark, but I wonder how it would look if you softened the water/sky line. Just a thought.
Jen
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