C&O Canal, Georgetown, #1

I’ve begun working on a new series of pictures of the C&O Canal, this time in Georgetown. This is completely different from the canal in other places as it is lined with buildings and crossed with many bridges. I went to the canal early on New Year’s Day to film. This was one of my favorite views but I have a number of others. Will do at least four in this size, I hope. The composition was a challenge for me as the photograph was cropped to a square and I decided to do it as a 20 x 24. So I had to elongate the arch and add more inside it! I began with a charcoal sketch on newsprint, adding white pastel for the lights. I was particularly interested in the design qualities of this picture. One of the changes I made was to add roof lines and a tower, just under the arch, that weren’t visible in the photo. I liked this much better. The wall was done with my new set of Mt. Vision thunderstorm grays–a lovely combination of colors. I found them large and a little unwieldy to use, adding Giraults and Schminckes to smooth the color. I’m finding this a good series of pictures for winter, as they focus on buildings, water, and reflections, and have more color than the average landscape does right now! We have snow now but it’s been too cold to go out and film. So I’ll stick with these for awhile.