Kayak Girls

Kayak Girls - Stage One

We are fortunate to have access to the Cut River here in Green Harbor which snakes through the marsh behind the house.   Our yellow sit-on-top kayak has gotten a lot of use, especially when friends and family visit.   The primary requirement for enjoying the kayak is a tide level that is high enough to navigate the 20 yards between the house and the channel.   It is easy to tell that the water is high enough when the adventure begins.  It is the return that can get tricky if the kayakers are not paying attention to the water level.  If the water does get too low,  you must get out of the kayak at the river and make a mucky trek back to our little dock dragging the kayak behind. 

I've noticed that people usually are relaxed and smiling as they return from a nice kayak adventure.  That was the case in a nice photo of my sister and niece from last summer.    I took a few photos of them as they paddled around out on the marsh.   As the came in to the dock, I got this photo which I liked the best.

This is what I liked about the photo I took of them (besides the fact that it makes me smile to see them smile).  Compositionally I liked...

1) The angle of the shot was from an upper deck, looking downward.   Because the subjects were looking up, there was just a touch of light on the side of their faces making them recognizable,

2) The downward photo angle also simplified the background to just the marsh grasses with the sky  color only evident in the reflections, along with the kayak and passengers,

3) The paddles and their reflections formed "X's" and that variation seemed to give the composition balance

4) The angle of the reflection meant that the dark yellow/green underside of the kayak was more dominant (and thus subdued) than if I was at a lower angle.   At a lower angle more of the figures would have been mirrored, perhaps competing for too much attention.

Kayak Girls

As for color, the kayak is bright yellow, and in thinking about complementary color pairs, I thought that making the kayak red would make a nice color harmony against the green marsh grasses (see stage one photo).   I changed my mind and reverted to the yellow colored kayak once I saw that the red was too dark.   I was still aiming for an overall red/green harmony, fitting the yellow kayak within that context.    The figures were quite red as were the shadows and lower part of the grasses.

This painting has special meaning to me because my sister looks happy and healthy after having gone through an ordeal with breast cancer - and coming out victorious.   It won't be for sale because I'm giving it to my niece, whose mom and sister are in the kayak.