Days at the lake

It was the very last week of August that I finally got round to taking my oil paints, easel and canvas down to the lake in our village. Francois and I have spent a good few evenings and late afternoons there this summer, now that a new camping site 'tentesimone' have set up a bar next to the water. It's a lovely lake to swim in too.
So while I was drinking a beer I'd watch how the shadows creep towards the beach as the sun begins to sink, the wet bodies of the children shining in the low light and how the colour of the grass up between the trees was so much 'sharper' and bluer than the orangey green of the water. In fact in the evening light I found that everything was surprisingly warm in colour.
I wanted to try to work it out.
It takes a bit of effort and organisation to carry all the stuff you need and I feel  self conscious setting up, but once I get painting it's definitely worth it. The children kept running round to see if they were in the picture. People were interested but not intrusive.
I went back to the same spot four times between five o'clock and Seven thirty.
 While I painted, little scenes were playing out in front of me; the mother who needed to get her child out of the sun, the little girl who was left behind on the beach while her brother dived off the ponton. My concern was to only consider the shapes which would enhance the composition as a whole. 
It's a fun, but tricky game.