The Vermillion River

On the way to Starved Rock State park in Illinois, I noticed several cars parked along the road. I stopped to investigate and saw several people fishing along the Vermillion river.
I took several photographs and then continued to the State Park.
Several days later I decided to do a painting of the the river. The scene that I chose to paint was interesting but not as dramatic as I liked.

I decided to make it into an early Autumn scene.
To achieve the texture of the trees, I started with a very wet first wash. Even though I was using 300 pound paper, it “buckled” and the colors flowed towards the center of the composition.
This was not what I had planned, but as in many of my paintings, I took advantage of the situation and “encouraged” the pigment to create edges and textures near what I wanted as the center of interest.

Step 2
The raised river bank on the left is painted as well as the river that is reflecting all of the colors of the trees in the background. Some light washes in the trees gives them some form.

Finish
I did use some opaque watercolor to paint the youngsters fishing. Adding subtle washes for form and texture and some “lifting” in the water completed the painting.