Every time, I drive from Peggy’s Cove up towards Head of Saint Margaret’s, I am gob smacked by this view of Indian Harbour. There is something that astonishes me about the balance of rough foreground, leading down into the village and with the glorious sky and water and islands behind.
I thought that this painting was finished yesterday. This morning when I looked at it, I decided that the closed in window and the yellow door on the right need to be a regular window and darkened door and some of that yellow foliage needs to extend up to the deck. The chimney off the red building looks too much like a window on the garage and I will make it taller or shorter of move it. The windows on the sunny side of all the buildings need to sparkle more and be more defined to distinguish them from the dull windows on the shadow sides of buildings. As well, I have made a conscience decision to stop polishing the foreground foliage, and leave it just with the rough flat colour and texture.
Paintings always progress in a series. One painting leads to the next. In this case, I started last spring with a watercolour of Prospect, dealing with the sky, the village, the rough autumn foreground. The next painting was a larger oil of this same view. Then, I did a vertical watercolour of Indian Harbour dealing with the same three areas at the same time of year. While working on this watercolour, I decided to do a larger horizontal oil painting of Indian Harbour so that the three areas; background, mid ground and foreground are all the same physical size.
The bend in the road on the left is absolutely crucial as it curves up from foreground into the village. The village is distinctively human made; rectangular buildings and lines and shapes all of which I love. The foreground is a foil to this precise regularity with its twisted branches and dark strong irregular areas of colour. The foreground island and the lighthouse are the transition from village to the god green and blue mounds of ocean and sky.
As an artist, it is crucial to look with your heart. It is more than just noticing, it is more a basking in the glory that is our world.
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