Low Tide Inspiration: Transforming a Commonplace Scene
Postcard No 16: Life by the River Up and down the river there are remnants of old jetty stumps and their weathered remains offer lots of texture and interest for an artist. I particularly like the big metal nails that are left exposed as parts of the…
Up and down the river there are remnants of old jetty stumps and their weathered remains offer lots of texture and interest for an artist. I particularly like the big metal nails that are left exposed as parts of the wooden stumps and beams rot away. The lovely rusty colour contrasts against the silvery grey wood in a very pleasing way.
I find myself driving past this spot and checking the tide to see how much of the old piers are showing and today was a lucky day because I happened to drive by at low tide.
The challenge with this one was to make the posts stand out against the water and create an interesting composition using a commonplace scene.
In reality from the viewpoint I was seeing the posts the tall one still wasn't tall enough to be silhouetted against the far bank so I took some creative licence. If I hadn't moved the bank closer and made the post taller it would have disappeared into the river. Now it stands out and we know it's the centre of interest in this painting.
Likewise the rusty nails weren't exactly in these positions but I wanted to create some counterpoints to the angle sof the top of the posts and add in an extra way of moving the eye around the picture.
You might not recognise the scene from this sketch but it definitely reflects the feeling the scene evokes for me...and in the end that's what I'm aiming for.
There are a lot of these stumps along the riverbank and I'm sure I'll be painting some more before this project is through. There will probably be other weathered and falling to bits things to paint as well! Try going down the weathered, aged and deteriorating route and see if it doesn't become a bit addictive.
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