Midnight Sun Diary 2 - Great Slave Lake

The next portion of the painting completed was Great Slave Lake. This lake is simply massive, almost 500 km in length and ranges in width between 20 and 200 km.  The lake shares is name with one of the names used to refer to a group of local indigenous Dene people, "Slavey". The Great Slave Lake's principal outflow is into the iconic Canadian Mackenzie river.  *

This painting represents the arm of this body of water as seen from the outskirts of Yellowknife. Like the original photograph of the area, the lake was to be a calm contrast to the dynamic of the sky, cooler colors, wider more organic lines and flows.  

The distant landform was painted in first, kept cool, thin and gray to allow the size of the lake itself to dominate the picture.

A small cove on the far left

The basic shape of the photographs far shoreline was replicated for the width of the painting, sweeping from right to left.  Two key elements were replicated from the reference material; an island on the right and a small cove on the far left. 

Using the sky pallet as a starting point, a simplified set of 4 pastel colors was refined and tested for contrast until it created a the needed balance against the sky and tonal calm within the lake.

The shapes and forms within the lake balanced the vibrancy of the sky, wide and sweeping with more rounded and flowing edges.  As with the sky, color value changes and forms evolved over time, adjusting and stretching each color and line until the balance and perspective of the vast area became clear.

Immediately following the completion of the lake, enthusiastic research began into the final components of this picture, the snowy foreground hills and trees of Yellowknife.

* More about the Great Slave Lake:

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/great-slave-lake/