The leopard in Hout Bay

Posted by Stephen Quirke on December 27, 2010 under Art, Hout Bay, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 4 Comments to Read

Here is the statue of the leopard in Hout Bay.

The painting is on 300 gm Fabriano rough and is 560 x 760mm.

The family has gone off to catch the latest Harry Potter movie.  I am feeling a bit bushed but was keen to use the time to paint.  Yesterday we took a hike up Table Mountain with the cousins from KZN.  I took the group from Rhodes Memorial up Newlands Ravine, over the Knife Edge and up the Ledges Route to Maclears beacon which is the highest point of the mountain.  When I studied I regularly used to take the route at the end of the day.  I would give myself enough time to set up a camp before dark, though I remember I did not always get it right and remember one time when I went off route and found myself on an open face, in the dark, with a good hundred meter drop below me. Anyway I had forgotten how nippy some of the sections were so we had a bit of a tense ascent.   Ethan was very brave about it but the last section was a bit much – anyway we all got up.  The team decided not to go down by the same route so we had a snack and headed down Skeleton Gorge, and back along the contour path and down through Newlands Forest.  All in all a good 20kms.   Ethan was looking forward to lunch at the upper cable station but we agreed that this would take too much time.  So we all went and had a slap up feast at a local joint when we were down.

Soooo…

I am happy to rest and paint.  And listen to JJ Cale, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Here are the different sketches I did for planning.

I thought of some exciting perspectives but in the end, maybe yesterday was exciting enough, so I went with a standard kind of design.  Actually I think it is a little, well, ho hum.  But let’s see how it develops.

And here is the first wash.  I was hoping for more separation in the sky as I am using a rough paper (Fabriano).

this is how far I got last night – the sea needs some darks to make it sparkle more – with is quite risky – but I am keen to give it a go – Also I think I will bring the headland on the right forward with more detail – maybe -

And here is how it looks this afternoon.  I thought there was too much light space in the foreground so I put in some of the coastal bush you find there.   This involves taking a deep breath and plunging my brush into the Windsor Greens and Reds and the Quinacridone green and gold.   I have also started putting some careful detail in the rock and the leopard (that looks more like a hyena – but I can fix that).  So wat dink julle???