Moon Over Onion Creek - stage 1

Going to try a moonlit sky over another landscape in Utah near Onion Creek. Hoping to get atmosphere and a sense of distance on this one by not making the landscape too dark considering that it's night time. This is just the first step of the tonal underpainting using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and and applied with a rag.
Oil on linen 20" x 16".

La Sal

Seeing as I'm enjoying the Desert South West and Arches National Park in particular this is another contre-jour of a nearby location to the last one, La Sal Viewpoint. I wanted to do a picture with some more distance in it with less emphasis on the butte and more on the sky to which end I decided to use transparent colours so that they look a bit more insubstantial (I feel earlier clouds in paintings have looked too heavy for something that is meant to be floating). I wanted a more translucent look to the sky so instead of just painting it in one colour it is in fact three glazes of thin transparent colour over the white of the canvas, first the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix, then a subdued lemon yellow layer and finally a glaze of a very subdued green/blue. The thin strip of orange/pink was always an integral part of the composition which incidentally very much follows the Rule Of Thirds with the placement of horizon and butte. The picture is based around a green/blue - red/orange complementary although quite subdued apart from the line of colour on the horizon.
Oil on linen 30" x 20".
There is a step-by-step progress through this painting including what colours were used in previous posts on this blog.

La Sal - stage 5

Pretty much finished the sky apart from a few tweaks later and then I roughed in the landscape with the transparent Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix ready for the opaque colour going on tomorrow. The pink/orange band of light on the horizon is an important part of the composition but is not that apparent yet.

La Sal - stage 4

Applied a second layer of transparent paint to the clouds and have got it near to finishing now, just an hour or so's work tomorrow should do it. Also gave the landscape another glaze of the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix so it's starting to look like how I want the lighting to be, the desert at dusk.

La Sal - stage 3

First colour pass on the sky in terms of the clouds for which I am using transparent paint to build them up subtly as I want them to look lighter and more insubstantial. Colours used for the clouds were mixes of Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Violet, Permanent Orange, Brilliant Pink, Warm Light Yellow and Zinc White.

La Sal - stage 2

I don't know if it's going to work yet but over the basic Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet glaze I have added a yellow/green glaze and on top of that a more blue/green glaze as I want the sky to look a bit translucent with the colours showing through each other. Colours used were Manganese Blue Hue, Winsor Violet, Pale Violet, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.
I start painting in the clouds over this tomorrow, the plan being to use mostly transparent colours as I have done so far with the sky. The white strip at the horizon is for a pink/orange....
I also added some more tone into the landscape using the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix.

La Sal - stage 1

Following on from the last picture this is going to be another contre jour of a nearby location called La Sal Viewpoint in the Arches National Park. I want to do a vaster landscape with less emphasis on an iconic butte so that it is more about the landscape and sky. This will be another dusk painting but set at a slightly later time than "Tower of Babel" and will be centred around a blue/green - red/orange complementary... at least that's the plan. I am going to paint the sky in a different way this time with darker clouds scumbled over a yellow/green sky with some long thin clouds near the horizon with a strip of pink/orange showing through in places. I normally rough the clouds in at the tonal underpainting stage... but not this time as I want to see if I can get them to look a bit more insubstantial and looking like they are floating in the sky better than previous efforts.
This is the first tonal underpainting stage "drawn"up with a small bristle brush and then some tone applied with a rag later on using the same paint mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin.

Tower of Babel

I fancied doing another South West Desert painting this time looking towards the light (contre jour) as I used to for many years previously. I try to avoid colourful sunsets as I find them a bit corny and much prefer the time after sunset towards dusk when I find the light more mysterious. I wanted to get across that time when the sun has gone down and the land is cooling off after the heat of the day as well as trying to get a sense of distance to get across the vastness of these spaces.
This mesa is called Tower of Babel and can be found in Arches National Park Utah. I love the red of the sandstone and based the painting on a yellow/violet complementary using the violet as the red of the mesa and landscape and a blue/violet for the clouds.
The painting of the mesa is not as tight as it looks and is really made up of semi opaque scumbles painted quite quickly over the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet underpainting glaze. The ground in the foreground is the same underpainting glaze broken up by the patches of bushes, the white of the canvas showing through the glaze giving it a slight glow. I noticed that Maxfield Parrish did a lot of that.
Oil on linen 30" x 20".
There is a step-by-step progress through this painting including the colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

Tower of Babel - stage 5

I will wait to do any glazes for the sky until the landscape is finished as I will be better able to tell then if it needs any or not.
Worked on the mesa today and have got it nearer to how I saw in it in my imagination, dark but not too dark with a bit of variation in colour by introducing some violet into it occasionally. I then darkened the foreground landscape and some of the landscape surrounding the mesa - I am still not sure how I'm going to paint the landscape near the horizon yet so I worked on the foreground first. I will decide tomorrow morning as usual over my breakfast coffee!
I probably won't post another update on the progress and will wait until it's finished for the next.

Tower of Babel - stage 4

Worked some more on the sky although you can't particularly tell from this photo. It's nearly finished but might need a few glazes, I'll decide tomorrow morning over my breakfast coffee.
I also painted in some darks into the foreground bushes and grass as it's quite tricky to work out the tone of the colours that I will be using on the mesa, too dark and it will come forward too much, too light and it will lack the sense of scale I'm looking for.

Tower of Babel - stage 3

First colour pass on the sky using mixes of Kings Blue Light, Pale Violet, Ultramarine Violet, Permanent Orange, Warm Light Yellow, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Lemon Yellow, Zinc White and Warm White.
I then ran another glaze of the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin mix over the landscape.

Tower of Babel - stage 2

I decided to go with my original lighting plan over my breakfast coffee this morning and put in the tonal underpainting with a rag and bristle brush using the same paint mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin. This will be a late afternoon/evening sky with all the landscape in shadow.

Tower Of Babel - stage 1

I changed my mind about doing another night painting as I wanted to do something that expressed the space of the landscape in Utah, this is called the Tower Of Babel and is located in the Arches National Park. I fancy painting something looking towards the sun for a change (I used to paint most pictures up to a few years ago in contre jour light) and have an idea for how I want it to go but I have another idea as to how I can light it so I will decide tomorrow morning over my breakfast coffee when most creative decisions are made!
This stage was "drawn" up with a small bristle brush using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin.

Maitland.

I thought that it would be a nice change to do a night sky in my "The Big Sky" series (the next one might be too) without making it look particularly threatening or ominous, my usual default! In fact I kind of wanted more of a comforting image of a lone house in a peaceful valley at night with ghostly clouds scudding across the sky but all the lights are on as though it was a haven of family life within a deserted landscape.
I had a great drive last year through Pennsylvania on the way to IX from the Washington DC area when I noticed the style of wooden houses in the area which I really liked and when it came to choosing a location for this picture I remembered all this and decided that one of these houses in the Pennsylvania landscape would be ideal. Maitland is the nearest town to this location.
The whole painting is based on a blue/orange complementary with the Rule of Thirds used as usual in the composition.
Oil on linen 20" x 16".
There is a step-by-step progress through this painting including the colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

Maitland - stage 4

It's very hard to photograph this one as it has a narrow tonal range and I suspect I won't post another update until it's finished when I will post the scan. The sky has to look right against the landscape so I suspect I will have to work on it further tomorrow before I get on with the landscape. I made up a simple semi transparent mix of Prussian Blue and Permanent Orange and ran it across the whole landscape, adding a bit of Permanent Sap green for the grass areas.

Maitland - stage 3

First colour pass on the sky using mixes of Phthalocyanine Blue, Permanent Orange, Zinc White, Warm White and Lead Tin Yellow Lemon. The clouds and sky will be adjusted tomorrow as it is a night time picture and need to get it right tonally and in saturation against the dark landscape. To this end I ran a glaze of Prussian Blue and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin over the landscape to darken it so that I have a better idea of the tones of the sky against the landscape for tomorrow's session.

Maitland - stage 2

For the tonal underpainting I applied with a rag and brush the same mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin. The focus of the picture is the house with the lights on in the windows and has been placed using The Rule Of Thirds as are most of my paintings.

Maitland - stage 1

I have an idea for a night time painting showing white clouds slightly moonlit in the sky above a dark Pennsylvania landscape with some warm light in the windows of a house nestling in the valley, kind of a comforting picture - for me anyway!
I had a great drive through Pennsylvania last year on the way to Reading for IX with some friends I had been staying with in the Washington DC area. I like the style of the wooden houses I saw and and must have filed it away in my head somewhere because I thought they would be an ideal architectural style of house for the painting that I am now planning. 
Maitland is the nearest town to this location. 
This is the early stage where I have "drawn" it up with a thin bristle brush using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin. I have somewhat overstated the lines because there will be some dark glazes of tone going over all of the landscape and they need to show through. This picture will be based on a blue/orange complementary with the warm orange light in the windows set against a predominantly blue landscape and sky.

Skyline

Still avoiding ominous skies this one sees me dipping my toes into Americana which I usually try to avoid but the subject matter of a run down motel seemed to suit the kind of evening sky that I had in mind. Although potentially the subject is the motel the picture is really about the sky and with this one I was pleased to get that glow near the horizon that I wanted. Originally I was going to have some tail lights of a few cars on the road but decided to leave them out as it helped the atmosphere.
I am in a bit of a quandary about The Big Sky paintings. They started with ominous clouds above deserted urban landscapes and then natural landscapes but I'm wondering if this is going to remind people of the Covid 19 lock downs and when things get back to "normal" they might want to not be reminded of this at all! Or will potential buyers relate to these paintings as a personal memory of the times we are going through at the moment..... it could go either way.
Oil on linen 20" x 16".
There is a step-by-step progress through this painting including what colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

Skyline - stage 6

Not a wildly productive day today although to be fair I have spent some of my time looking for the right location for the next one.
I painted another darker glaze over the landscape and then painted in some plants in the left foreground. I also darkened the background of the sign ready for the lettering to go on tomorrow and worked a bit on the other side of the road.