reservoir and swallow

oil on canvas, 54ins x 40ins, 1370mm x 1020mm.

Rheidol reservoir, central Wales.

In 2008 I saw swallows and martins skimming the water here and could not forget it. I came back the following year and asked a local woman, Rhian Thomas, when would be the best time to find the water like a mirror. She said in the early morning, and the very next day, there it was.

birds went into and even under the water

oil colour study

one of a set of multiple exposures : for digital mapping of colour-textures in the studio. For method click here.

making the painting :
		charcoal composition on canvas

choosing glaze base colours: comparing glazing tests with oil study colours. Most of the charcoal from the composition stage above has been dusted off to prevent dirtying the first paint layers.

		first glaze base : thin oil washes of cadmium red and yellow. These colours provide a good reflecting surface for green glazes, making the water look both rich and deep.

		Second glaze base: differentiating colours for upper dark-on-light glazes and adding the dark base for a light-on-dark zone. This enables glaze quality contrast, which in turn may enhance the sense of difference - and similarity - of filmy bright sky and textured, darker trees.