La Grande Chute From the Bridge

La Grande Chute From the Bridge (oil on birch panel, 5 x 7 in.)

5 August 2018 found me painting from the bridge, looking at the west bank of the Dumoine River as it rushes down La Grande Chute, on the last painting day of the DRAW artists retreat.

The day began in fog, and I was out early to see the river in a different light. I investigated the shore upstream of the bridge on the west side, where the rising sun was burning through the mist above the glassy surface of a slower part of the river as it passes a small treed island. No painting, just photos for a potential painting... Then I took some photos looking upstream from the bridge on the east side, where a majestic Cedar sweeps its branches over whitewater beginning its rush to the Chute... then turned to look downstream as the pearly light of early morning tinted the river and the sky in subtle pinks and blues - a subject more suited to a larger painting, and I had only a few small panels to choose from.

Phil Chadwick was already on his second painting, standing at the east end of the bridge, and Mark Patton was happily situated among the rocks where the bridge meets the west shore,on the downstream side, starting a painting of rocks and water.

There was still a little morning mist bluing the distance downriver when I finally chose my scene from near the centre of the bridge span. I set up my stool, umbrella, and paint box close against the bridge railing, so as not to take up too much room, as the occasional vehicle picked its way past me between holes and weak spots in the wooden deck of the bridge.

I love the way the river spills in sheets over edges, catching the light like clear yellow glass. The repeating patterns of foam-streaked waves, and the churning and leaping of whitewater perform a dance that I could watch forever.

I painted quickly and steadily until around noon, not thinking much, or writing any observations, as the day was quickly turning hotter than yesterday - and there was no shade on the bridge except for my umbrella.

Here is what the painting looked like when I stopped around noon. Except for the untended underpainting left in the centre of the treed riverbank, it is an acceptable plein air sketch. But when I got it home I finished it with more detail than would have been possible onsite.

When I carried my gear back to the car, I stopped to visit with Phil and Mark in the shade, where Phil was working on his third painting of the morning. Some of us are faster than others!