The drama and spectacle of a summer sunset over an Ontario Lake is one to behold and savour. Whether it’s over Lake Huron, Lake Simcoe, Lake Muskoka or Georgian Bay I have enjoyed many a glorious sunset on my various adventures up north. At the day’s end when the sun gets lower and lower in the sky the sunset will reveal itself in ribbons of scarlet, gold and purple. Clouds become illuminated with colour and the previously blue sky yields to a most exquisite dance of hues. The fact that it is all so short lived makes sunsets surely a gift to relish.
I try to capture all this visual splendour when I am creating my landscape painting’s sunsets in watercolours. As you can see in the six photos above I block out my birch trees with masking tape to keep them white and then wash in layers of brilliant colour. This part can be tricky. I wet my paper first then need to be sure to keep the application of wet paint heavily saturated in colour as it’s launched onto the wet surface. Watercolours always dry lighter. Plus when you are painting juicy wet paint into a wet environment it becomes very unstable with the paint floating freely and skating all around the place. To get this technique right is a matter of timing and practise so when the results work well it’s a personal thrill!
Lake vistas at sunset are a location I go back too again and again to paint. Seeing those changing giant open skies with the magic of that reflective water mirroring the events of above, well it’s just endlessly beautiful and beguiling to me.
To see this finished original watercolour painting ‘Lake Muskoka Sunset’, close up and for more of my paintings available for sale please go to my original watercolour and acrylic art galleries on this website. Many of my paintings are also available in 5″x7″ art cards.