Blue Woman/7 Cascades

Oil in Sketchbook 27cm x 22cm Sketch 1.

6 x 8" oil on board Sketch 2

5 x 7"Oil on ply Sketch 3

5 x 7" Oil on ply Sketch 4

8  x 10" Oil on Board. Sketch 5

I worked from 9am till 12.30, you can see the progression from the 1st to the 5th sketch. I started by putting in the light and the shade working quickly. Then as I progressed I FELT the body of a woman appearing. This is the magical part, it's the FEELING in the landscape. The rest just happened on it's own.
When I had done sketch 4 I was very surprised and excited, the 2 small pools were the woman's breasts and the larger pool was her tummy. I felt the mountain on the left in red, was her leg. So I started another one, trying not to think of the figure but just letting myself go. This time I had painted her second leg in red too. It was not until I got home and looked at it the following day that I realised what I had painted. Dare I say it?....her legs are apart..she looks like she's giving birth...In fact you can see whatever you want, it might look like 3 pools and valleys to you!

Bright Pools, 7 Cascades, Looking down from 3rd waterfall.

8"x10" Oil on MDF (orange ground)

The sun was shining today, after 10 days of rain - I was very eager to get ready and go out painting! I'm still thinking about the space in this place and haven't mastered it yet so back I went again. I chose a different spot, right in the middle of the 'ledge'. Choosing the right spot for the painting is very difficult, I try it from all different angles before I get it right. I could see the pools below, with the sun sparkling on them, the water on the right spilling off the ledge and the valley in the background. It was stunning.

I worked a long time on the rocks and was happy with them. I can now feel the first pool higher than the second which is also higher than the third. I used a  mainly earth palette of: cobalt, ultramarine, mars yellow, raw sienna, burnt sienna, indian red, caput mortuum (mars violet), raw umber, burnt umber, flake white, titanium/zinc.

More waterfalls

I tried some larger versions in the studio from my smaller studies:

60cm x 75cm oil on canvas

50cm x 65cm oil on canvas

 I did some more work on the above paintings:

60 x 75cm oil on canvas

50 x 65cm oil on canvas

I went back again and did more studies, this time looking at the water falling over the edge and the pools, I was trying to capture the light on the water. The pools were round, so beautiful:

20cm x 25cm oil on MDF Quick study done on site

6" x 8" Oil on Masonite. Done on site.