August 30, 2012

The Rock 9x12 oil

PAAC Paint Out at Rock Park in Castle Rock.  This is the rock that Castle Rock is named after.  I've seen it countless times driving down I-25, but never really looked at it closely.

I tried a different method with this painting.  I picked the four main values of the scene, and pre-mixed them on the palette.  The colors were for the sky, the foliage in sun, foliage in shadow, and rock in shadow.  When I compared them on the palette, I could see that I had mixed the sky and the rock shadow too light.  So I adjusted them on the palette.  I think this really helped the painting. I'm going to do this more often.  Once I had the main blocks of color on the canvas, I added variations and accents and I was done!  I think this one reads quite well in black and white.