The Gate

One weekday afternoon several weeks ago, during a particularly slow bus ride home, I gazed out the window at the swirling wind and fog: a typical summer afternoon in San Francisco. Just beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, a lone sailboat was fighting wind and waves toward The Gate. The boat was inundated by the wind and waves and I made a mental note to sketch out the scene when I got home.

I originally jotted this down in my sketchbook in pen and ink, but soon realized that in order to capture the swirling motion of the sky and sea, I would need to work larger to achieve a fuller, freer drawing stroke. I also wanted to take a very grey, monochrome day and pump in some color. The palette is a basic split complementary of blue-violet, blue-green, and orange, with tints and shades of each color providing the swirling texture. Plus some additional colors to liven things up.

I purposely chose to paint on 140# Fabriano Rough, rather than my favorite Arches Rough, as the Fabriano is slightly thicker and holds up to more rubbing out of highlights. In the end, I didn't do as much rubbing as originally anticipated. In several areas you can see the pocked surface of this highly textured paper. I used a rubber cement mask for the sail and boat hull, and even though I put the cement down full strength, it broke down in a couple of areas under repeated washes, naturally on the sail portion that I intended to leave unpainted. Ah, the unexpected wonders or watercolor.