About the Artist's Waterfront Painting Technique
| Lucia deLeiris works mostly on site, directly from her subject. Each waterfront painting is seen as it appeared under the conditions of weather and light on the days of the rendering. "I like the spontaneity of the process. I strive to capture not only the subject but the atmosphere of the place." I sketch these paintings roughly in pencil at first, to achieve a balanced composition and to set up the proper proportions. Then I begin the painting, all in watercolor, a wonderfully spontaneous medium. I like to paint small details with a finely pointed brush in some areas of the painting while keeping others, sometimes small areas, more free, allowing the eye some restful space. I strive to give freedom and character to each brush stroke, no matter how small.
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| During my travels, I always keep a notebook with sketches and notes, often drawing things that can be useful later - a flying pelican, gulls in various positions, cormorants, boats. Birds are often a fleeting part of the scenes I paint. This is why I am continually doing field sketches of them in my journals - gradually gaining a body of reference material, and a knowledge of their form and motion. |
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| I paint most waterfronts in the morning, when the light is low, when colors are subtle, and the water sometimes has a silvery reflective surface. I have to stop before the sun gets high, for the light changes drastically in intensity and direction, altering the colors and shadow. I return at the same time each day in order to find similar conditions. Sometimes the wind on the water surface creates some interesting patterns of land and boat reflections juxtaposed with areas of a deeper color where the wind agitates the surface, causing it to reflect part of the sky. Since the water is constantly changing, I choose one of its moods and stay with it. The constant motion of water poses a challenge in observation. Therefore, I have spent many hours over the years not only painting the ocean , lakes, streams, but just watching them, studying their many types of surfaces in varying conditions, and how they relate to the sky and land they reflect. The more I studied it, the more I realized just how complex it is. This experience gave me an understanding of how the water's surface affects reflections, which is invaluable to me now.
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