the tranquille creek gorge
May 16, 2015
THE SOUTHERN INTERIOR of British Columbia is a desert-like landscape, plunging steeply into geologically-unique valleys that include rattlesnakes, a ground-creeping variety of prickly pear cactus, sagebrush, and tumbleweed.
I ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERED the local cacti by casually placing my hand on top of one in our backyard shortly after we’d moved to our current home.
local prickly-pear cactus
OUR BACKYARD as such, is mostly mountain ridge, covered in these low-lying cacti, sagebrush, and outcropping of rock.
Local terrain
RUNNING UP AND DOWN OUR RIDGE are flocks of Chukar Partridges–a bird which belongs in ‘Roadrunner’ cartoons. Their name is derived from their ‘chuk-chuk-chuk-CHUK-CHUK-CHUKCHUKCHUKCHUK!!!’ call (who needs an alarm clock?). Below is a not-very-good photo of one (they are always on the run, making my camera skills not up to the task)….
local Chukar Partridge
NEARBY US is a very geologically-dramatic area called The Tranquille Creek Gorge.
PAINTING THIS TERRAIN ON LOCATION has to be done rather quickly (depending on the time of day), as temperatures can go up to 40C and the sun is relentless due to the lack of trees, and thus, shade….
watercolour sketch, tranquille creek
COMING HERE FROM THE WET AND RAINY B. C. COAST, it has taken me years to come to fully appreciate the beauty of an arid area such as ours. But now that my eyes are open to the subtlety, I wouldn’t return to all that green for anything in the world. I’m happy in the depth of our browns (smile).
composition woes….
May 3, 2015
MY GREATEST CHALLENGE when painting anything is composition. For years I felt I was being a ‘purist’, insisting that I always paint on location, never in a studio setting. And once at the location, I convinced myself that if a tree was in that spot, then that was how it needed to be depicted.
IT WAS ALL DUE TO my tendency to early-on stop referring to the subject in front of me and become more and more involved in what was happening on paper, to the point where I may as well have not been on location at all. So in an effort at self-discipline, I decided that not only should I paint what things actually look like, I shouldn’t muck around with how and where ‘mother nature’ placed them.
THE SILLY THING WAS, I ended up choosing a composition by default because of course, I couldn’t paint everything my eyes saw in front of me. And more often than not, it was not a good composition. So now, not only do I go to some lengths to study the skill of creating an interesting arrangement, I realise it is the painter’s task to take what ‘mother nature’ provides and make art out of that. Fences do need to be repositioned, as do trees and hills and clouds.
SO NOW I MAKE thumbnail studies first on matt board before beginning anything . . .
THE OBJECTIVE is to provide a focal point, a visual way in towards it, then additional visual interest so the eye has more to discover by wandering beyond the subject itself. These thumbnails are exploring the use of a compositional figure ‘Z’ shape to lead the eye of the viewer.
Painting progression 1. . . ‘Cows’
April 11, 2015
THE DEWDROP VALLEY is a local site and part of a much larger area near Tranquille River and the Tranquille River Gorge. In essence, the Dewdrop is really rocky, hilly, grass-and-tree- covered pasture for cows and cattle during the Spring and Summer months. The Kamloops Thompson Nicola Shuswap Region is no-nonsense cowboy rancher country, complete with serious Rodeos and horse and rider cattle round-ups in the Autumn.
This is the first of recording daily progress towards completing a watercolour depicting a typical scene in The Dewdrop Valley . . . .
ON DISPLAY are a fine collection of tortured brushes. Some are from dollar stores or second hand bargain stores, and as soon as they get into the spare bedroom cum studio they’re cut up with scissors. None of them cost more than $2, and who knows what they’re made of–Moose? Sasquatch hair, perhaps. Each, however, is priceless.
Painting progression 2…. ‘Jamieson Creek Thaw’
April 3, 2015
Painting progression 1…. ‘Jamieson Creek Thaw’
April 2, 2015
JAMIESON CREEK is about a 15 minute drive from our home, along a dirt logging road. The Kamloops, British Columbia, region is a geologist’s dream come true, featuring some of the oldest mountains in Canada. As a student of watercolour, I am fascinated by stone and rock, particularly because it is so challenging as a subject.
This is Jamieson Creek, taken four years ago around February, early March….
And here is my initial drawing of the subject…..
As you can already see, photography is not my gift (which is why I paint, lol)–so forgive the darkness. It was taken, pre-dawn in the spare room which serves as a studio.
weisserwatercolours 