I have painted this view on location, on St. Croix, numerous times. It is an easy walk from one of our favorite places to stay on the East End of the island. The best time to paint it is early in the morning, when the sun is still low and the distant hills are backlit silhouetted shapes. The complete lack of shade in this location is also another reason to paint this early in the morning, before things heat up too intensely. I particularly like the shapes of the hills as they slip into the distance towards the east. This painting was created in my studio in North Carolina, using a combination of photos, my plein air studies, and my memories of being there. It is painted on a half sheet of cold pressed paper, cut in the long direction. I used numerous glazes to create the various landforms and foliage shapes. Some were brushed on and some were poured. In fact, one of the last layers was a poured layer of semi-opaque paint. This may seem surprising to you, but I wanted to enhance the feeling of the heavy atmosphere, so I mixed some white gouache with some of the warm colors already used in the painting, and poured it directly over the sky and the land. I tipped the paper in different directions to coax it to move and spread, and when I was happy with its shape and breadth, I let the painting dry flat, to stop all further movement. And as it dried, it created the look of wispy clouds or early morning fog rising into the sky. Just what the painting needed!A Warm Awakening
watercolor on cold pressed paper
19x38" framed
$1500.00
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