Lake of Shining Water - Prince Edward Island

This is for Virtual Paintout August 2010 challenge - Prince Edward Island. It's oil on 8x10 canvas board.

I actually started out painting another scene for this challenge, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted. Then I had remember seeing a very interesting picture of cloud reflection in the lake, (ref photo) so I did this one instead. (Still trying to figure out how to fix the other one I started out).

Prince Edward Island is the setting for one of my favorite books when I was younger - Anne of Green Gables. At first I was looking for Green Gables or Avonlea in Google map, but I couldn't find much. I came upon this lake scene, not sure if this is the real Lake of Shining Water as mentioned in the book, but in my eyes, it's shining enough for me.

I started out painting the negative spaces in the sky and the lake, i.e. the blue parts. The sky is a combination of cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, violet grey, and white. The sky reflection in the water is darker, it's a combination of coeruleum, ultramarine violet, portland grey light and medium. The clouds in the sky are mostly white with a touch of yellow and violet, while clouds in the lake are mostly portland grey light with ultramarine violet, all blended with a fan brush. I made the grassy area more orange-yellowish for bigger contrast (orange and blue are complementary colors), color included indian yellow, raw sienna, burnt sienna, and sap green. Finally, I used a palette knife to add in more texture for the tall grass using color that's left on my palette.