Mt. Assiniboine Impressions in Watercolour
David McEown
Video highlights from painting on location in Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park.
The silver lining from international travel restrictions caused by the pandemic is that I am rediscovering some of the wonderful landscapes from my own province. In mid summer we had the opportunity to stay in Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park. Record heat and smoke from nearby wildfires created some challenges, but we were fortunate to have a few clear days and intense heat and sudden thaw of the snowpack produced an incredible display of wildflowers. I look forward to working on some larger studio works from this iconic Canadian scenery that is often compared to the Matterhorn in Switzerland. Many thanks to Assiniboine Lodge for the great hospitality!
Early morning painting done on location of Mt. Assiniboine reflecting in Lake Magog. I was struck by the wildflowers in the foreground and how they echoed the warm morning light on the peak.
It is pretty humbling to try and capture the complexity and scale of these mountain meadows but it is so important to work on site and let the flood of compositions seep in while gathering reference for some larger studio works. I often start these in a loose wet in wet impression and then after a wash dries work at linking the depth of field between mountain peaks and paintbrush flowers in the foreground.
Working through heat and smoke is not unusual but this summers record temperatures and wildfire season in British Columbia was challenging and another climate change wake up call.
Visibility was limited on a few days but we were rewarded with wildflowers displays and some wonderful lifting panoramas , such as this view from the “nublit”. I start this painting with a light underpainting wash of violet and yellows and apparently the mosquitoes like the to bathe in the white of the paper!
David McEown painting on location from the “Nublit”. (photo by Daisy Gilardini)
Often I will have an early morning painting , mid day and evening painting on the go during these trips and with the complexity of this one I would work on this over a few evenings if the lighting is similar and Lake Magog stays calm.
Many of these paintings are for sale along with others inspired from the Canadian Rockies and are posted on our store page.