The Rock

My son Will posed for this on a baking day in Algonquin Canada earlier this year. I tried to capture something of the contrasting warmth and coolness as the sunlight saturates everything but parts of the boats and Will. I used cool violets in the shadows to suggest the warmth reflecting all around.

I like playing with the composition so, e.g. there is a triangle of primaries to anchor the picture (grass, cap, shoes), and the shape of the canoes are reversed in the distant tree line. As ever, it is deliberately loose and impressionist.

Will ‘collects’ rocks. Is he going to keep it or throw it?