A Plan for Yosemite

The two biggest positives about this piece is nothing you can see. Number one, due to a planned power outage in my neighborhood for maintenance, I use the time to paint and completed a painting in less than a week from the last one. That's a big step toward improving by painting more often. Number two, I made a plan on how to approach this painting and actually followed it which made the process much less maddening.

 

I rescued some old photos from being tossed because I need to work on my control of values. The photos were great examples of atmospheric perspective, each level bluer and more faded as they retreated into the distance. It wasn't until I set up my easel that I realized two of the pics made a panorama, perfect for the format of my sketchbook.

I used a lightboard to trace the scene onto the page. I then used blue to lay in shadows. I then laid in some of the forest. The sky was a  wash of cobalt blue. I added to it at the end but I treated it like a watercolor wash. In the final, the most distant peaks should have been cooler and lighter still but at the point I was happy with my roadmap.

I worked from back to the front then left side to right. I repeatedly reworked the cliffs on the left with thin layers. I don't know if the end result was any better than some of the earlier stages but that's me learning. I saved the greatest contrast for the waterfall against the cool darks of the cliffs. Finally I painted the foreground trees and the branches on the upper right.

My self critique says the sky needed more paint. The thin wash seems out of place with the rest of the painting. The most distant mountains need to be lighter and bluer. But overall, it's much more successful than my previous paintings of cliffs and mountains. I'll take the win.

 

 

Comments

[Carolyn]

Hi,
I found your blog through a search on Leno Rivo’s gouache class. I have enjoyed reading about your journey through painting and also your struggles as I can relate to many of them..especially getting caught up in the details and such. You are a talented artist and I look forward to seeing more of your work. Keep posting and sharing. I’m going to check out James Reynolds.