Lost in the landscape

This is a revenge picture. I have a  pet peeve, a resentment of cyclists who seem to think they can occupy all of a road or footpath regardless of who else might be wanting to use it. Most often I see them from the back but I decided to have one stop and look around. Has she lost the rest of her group? Developed a fault which needs another cyclist to help out? She’s not going anywhere, so she has unbuckled her helmet and the ends are flying about around her head.

I have noticed that runners and riders all seem to have to have a pony tail or a braid, so I gave her one. Not having much clue of how cyclists dress from my usual point of view I had to research this figure, to get her kit right. Dropped handlebars, check; water bottle, check; skid lid, check;  special cycling gloves, check; … special ladies’ quick release lycra top, check. I imagine that is especially necessary when riding in the countryside.

The location is the footbridge over the Wey Navigation at St. Catherine’s lock. I have painted this before, concentrating on the lock gates. See my “Lock on the Wey”.  This time I have raided the view point to concentrate on the figure against the trees. Getting the relative size of the elements “right” was tricky.  I wanted her to be an equal element, not a figure in the foreground as in a Gainsborough portrait where the gentleman and his wife stand in front of a tree  which is part of the landscape they own. This cyclist has been riding through publicly owned land,  a transient. So the trees are treated as fully as her figure and bicycle.