St Lucie River

St. Lucie River 6"x12"

The St. Lucie River meanders through St. Lucie County on Florida's east coast. I spent many hours on the river during the 18 years I lived in Ft. Pierce. The best time of day was late afternoon/early evening when the sun was low in the sky. Egrets and Herons fly in to roost in the trees as the soft, fading light cast a warm pink and then golden wash over everything.

I have been commissioned to creat another painting of the St. Lucie River. As the painting progresses I decided to photograph it and post it here so you can see how it developes.

This is the beginning lay-in. I applied a light wash of yellow ochre in acrylic paint first. Then I transfered my pencil sketch onto the canvas in Ultramarine Blue oil paint thinned with turpentine.

The sky is layed in before anything else. Cloud color first then the sky color surrounds the clouds with the paint eating into the cloud paint to give soft edges.

I now work back to front, or from the horizon forward. Values are of prime importance at this point. The fartherest trees will be lighter and greyer with the trees getting darker as they advance to the foreground.

You can see how the perspective is being developed simply by blocking in the ground planes in value progression

When I feel my values are correct I begin building the color. I can alter minor things at this point, but the composition is pretty well set.

Stay tuned to see the final stages of development.