Rennies Mill River

Here is another of my 'hidden' rivers from the series that I'm producing of overlooked tributaries to the sea within the city  of St. John's.  Its in soft pastels on Canson paper and measures about 10 x 12 inches.

This is truly an urban section of the river but with a touch of greenspace to it too.  It is flanked on one side by a larger supermarket and carpark, on the other a soccer field. This is part of a larger section of Rennies Mill River which empties into Quidi Vidi Lake then on through a rocky river to the sea.   This section of the river does have  walking trail next to it, but at this time of year is well disguised in green grasses, trees and weeds. 

My view west into this river is from the bridge where the river flows under to the lake.  Quidi Vidi Lake is littered with ducks and many make the high grasses their homes in the summer seeking out shady spots in the heat of the day.

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Wordless Wednesday

 

OK, nearly wordless.  I am up to my neck in fish and prints and commissions, but couldn't resist this little bowl of tiny tomatoes in the sun this evening. The first cherry tomatoes from the greenhouse.  Yummy. I love the contrast in colour with the darkness of the bowl as well as that shadow.

Now I wonder if I can exist on 2 hours of sleep a day...?  I could fit everything in then.  Just about.

 

And a glimpse of a herring caught quite accidentally tonight by the tail.  The iridescence of the scales is beyond amazing on this fish.

...good intentions...

I haven't done a lot of drawing lately and I miss it.  And even when I get a chance to draw, they are more sketches or studies than finished drawings.

I started this little portrait of a whippet and his cat pal. Again, time got the best of me and good intentions to complete it lost and it joined the pile of other good intentions to be finished at a later date.

I loved the expression on the dogs face.  The cat was so unique, all wrinkled and hairless.  Poor thing would freeze here or roast in the summer. However the pose was interesting and I *will* return to this to create a full portrait soon.

This study was done in coloured pencil, Coloursoft, in an 8 x 10 sketchbook.

Skating party

What happens when you have a skate, some ink and some mulberry paper?

You have a skating party!

Sorry for the lines crossing this image.  Its the grouting on the floor tiles and the mulberry paper is quite thin.  Most papers that I use are tissue like and translucent which make them very suitable for gyotaku as they mold around the body of the fish much more easily.

With these initial prints, I'm working out composition to find the best placement for the different fish shapes. These are like printer's proofs in a way, as they give me room to adjust ink amounts and paper used to help obtain a better print.  First time is rarely a keeper with gyotaku, so the benefits of a 70 foot roll of mulberry or rice paper are much appreciated.  I also use newsprint or old newspapers to take initial prints to see how they'll turn out.

Earlier this year, I found some Mermaid or Devil's purses on the beach and sketched them.  These egg cases belong to this creature or a similar version of it. I'm not sure of the exact species of this skate and there are so many types.  I know that smooth, thorny and barndoor skate are all caught off Newfoundland.