Crossing - stage 4

Finished the sky and have moved on to roughing in the landscape. I don't want a large tonal difference between the crossing and the sky behind it as I don't want it to stand out too much so I'm proceeding quite cautiously at the moment. One dilemma is do I use thick or thin paint now? My usual mantra is "It's the painting not the place!" meaning that the painting and how it has been painted is more important than the subject/location but with this one it seems it should be "The feeling is more important than the painting".  Most current landscape painting is about thicker paint loosely applied but with a final result of disrupted realism. I feel that I have to go my own way on this one and be true to myself and paint it how it comes natural to me. The way I'm painting this one so far has been thin paint quite sketchily applied but when you move back to look at it from a few feet away the sketchy marks coalesce into something quite realistic, even photographic.
Colours used for the landscape are Permanent Sap Green, Chromium Green, Permanent Orange, Ultramarine Violet, Manganese Violet and Winsor Violet.

Crossing - stage 3

First colour pass on the sky. I have realised that what I was looking for for this one is something Tonalist so I worked out this morning over my breakfast coffee that it would suit a subtle yellow/violet colour complementary. Keeping to my new method of using only transparent colours for the sky I used mixes of Burnt Sienna, Winsor Violet, Zinc White, Lemon Yellow and a tiny amount of Yellow Lake Deep.
I then gave the landscape and crossing another layer of the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet glaze.

Crossing - stage 2

After dithering about how I wanted the sky to look for a couple of days I finally got my act together this morning and decided on a quiet evening sky with elongated clouds as I want this painting to have a peaceful, lonely atmosphere as a counterpoint to the strong composition. I have put the lightest part of the sky away from the railroad crossing as I don't want to over emphasise it against the sky and putting it nearer to the crossing makes it dominate the painting too much because of the contrast of dark against light.
This tonal underpainting stage used the same paint mix as yesterday thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag.

Crossing - stage 1

This one will have a quite dynamic composition (based on The Rule of Thirds) but tempered by a soft and melancholy lighting. The lonely railroad crossing in New Mexico will be set against a dusk sky so a quiet kind of atmosphere is what I'm after which I hope will emphasise the loneliness of the location. This is the Plan anyway, final decisions will be made tomorrow over my breakfast coffee as usual.
During the Lockdown I have slightly changed my working method in that normally as soon as a painting is finished I rush on to the next one which is why there is a certain hit and miss element to my work. But during the Lockdown because there is more time available to work with I am deliberately holding myself back from immediately starting another painting and making myself wait to see if the idea still stands up the next day. Usually by giving it more time there seems to be a chance to re evaluate what I am thinking about and refine the idea or indeed dump it too when I realise it wasn't good enough!
This stage was "drawn" up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin.
Oil on linen 30" x 20".

Valley of the Rocks

Valley of the Rocks is the translation of the Navajo name for Monument Valley in Utah/Arizona where this picture is located. This is the third painting I have done of this view from the road, a monochrome "Navajo" and "Desert Daybreak" being the others. I quite liked the ambiguous day/night lighting of the previous picture so I thought that I would try it again with this one. I think it gives the pictures a kind of magical dreamlike quality which is fine by me as these are not plein air paintings and are not trying to emulate the usual way of depicting these scenes, they are my take on these landscapes.
These paintings of American landscapes are really aimed at American collectors and now that I have enough pictures I'm happy with and the website is now revamped the time has come to see if I can get some American galleries interested to which end I will now start submitting them to my first eight target galleries...
As usual I generally used the Rule Of Thirds for the composition and like the last one it is based around a blue/orange colour complementary using the same colours pretty much. 
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.

Valley of the Rocks - stage 5

Pretty much finished the sky and made a start on the landscape. Taking it quite tentatively as I am looking for a sense of a lot of distance so I am trying to be not too heavy with the paint on the mesas and trying to keep them a bit light and sketchy. If the paint is too thick or dark the mesas will come too far forwards, the plan is to have quite a dark foreground to contrast with the middle and far distance as I am trying to get across the vast space of the landscape. For colour unity I am using the same colours in the landscape as the sky.

Valley of the Rocks - stage 4

Worked on the sky today, another hour tomorrow and it should be finished. I also darkened the main mesa in readiness for making a start on the landscape tomorrow.

Valley of the Rocks - stage 3

First colour pass on the sky - I couldn't get all of the sky done in one session as it covers too great an area so I left it like this for today as I didn't want to hurry it. Colours used were Prussian Blue, Phthalocyanine Blue, Permanent Orange, Unbleached Titanium, Lemon Yellow, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Zinc White.

Valley of the Rocks - stage 2

This is the tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin mostly applied with a rag apart from the foreground bushes which I have put in early with a brush as it helps me visualise the space and distance in the landscape.

Valley of the Rocks - stage 1

Valley of the Rocks is the translation of the Navajo name for Monument Valley where this picture is located. I have painted this location before ("Desert Daybreak") but feel that I never gave this view from the road the justice that it deserves so I'm painting it again in a larger format. I am going to paint it like the last picture in this ambiguous day/night lighting that I have developed as it seems to give a magical dreamlike feel. As usual I have composed it with the Rule of Thirds as it gives a satisfying look to the composition.
I "drew" up this stage very simply with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin in the morning and then when it was dry I applied a glaze of the same colour mix with a rag just to put in some simple tone in the afternoon. I could have started on the sky but I don't want to rush it and prefer to spend tomorrow on the tonal underpainting of the sky area instead. What's the hurry? All this lockdown time makes me less in a hurry and I can be more relaxed with my working time.
Oil on linen 30" x 20".

Keeler

Following on from the last picture I decided to do another moonlit landscape, wanting to keep it quite light in tone despite being a night painting. However the final result has produced something quite interesting in that the time of day is now ambiguous which I think gives it a somewhat magical feel and is fine by me and something to explore a bit more methinks...
I am getting into this idea of very ordinary buildings usually out in the boonies juxtaposed with the extraordinary landscapes that they are located in. 
I had come across Keeler in a TV documentary I had just seen about the controversial engineer William Mulholland who had set up the first water supply for Los Angeles from here in Owens Valley in the early 1900s. Keeler is this forgotten small town in the valley near where a lake once was.
The picture is based around a blue/orange complementary, details of the colours I used can be found in earlier posts on this blog.
This is another in my The Big Sky series of which I think I have enough now to show to a few US galleries particularly as I have now uploaded the revamped website.
Oil on linen 20" x 16".
There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Keeler - stage 3

The sky is finished and have painted the first colour pass on the landscape using pretty much the same colours plus Naples Yellow and Permanent Sap Green. I won't post any more updates on this one, the next post will be the finished scan. Although it's a night painting I have tried to keep it on the light side... I'm not sure which way people will see this one, a night painting or a day painting with the sun obscured by high cloud. I quite like the ambiguity, it gives it a somewhat magical feel...

Website Redesigned

Trying to make good use of all this lockdown time and in addition to the new paintings I have also redesigned my website as it was out of date and tired-looking. I am planning on approaching some USA galleries with my "The Big Sky" series and felt that if there was any interest I would need an up-to-date website as back up for background info like my biography etc. I am only showing work from the last four years although there is a link to my old work that I keep on some Pinterest pages in case anybody wanted to see it. I have tried to keep it simple with no bells and whistles and although I don't think websites are as important as they used to be (social media seems to have taken over) it is always good to have a place where people can see what you do anytime and anywhere on the planet.
Here is a link to it, if you spot anything not working please let me know:
https://paintingsbymarkharrison.com/

Keeler - stage 2

First colour pass on the sky, trying to keep the whole picture a bit lighter than the last one as there is more distance to try and convey. I used pretty much the same colours as the last picture; Prussian Blue, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Zinc White and Unbleached Titanium.... mostly transparent colours again.

Keeler - stage 1

Following on from the last picture I decided to do another moonlit landscape this time in California, a small town called Keeler that I had seen in a TV documentary about William Mulholland, the controversial engineer that designed and built the water supply for Los Angeles from here in the Owens Valley in the early 1900s.
I like to choose in one way a very ordinary building or settlement and emphasise the often extraordinary landscape that it it is in with lighting and weather etc.  In this case the barren waterless landscape of the Owens Valley where there was once a lake that has now disappeared as Los Angeles grew and the demand for water increased.
This is the first tonal underpainting stage which I used a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied first with a small bristle brush for the "drawing" in and then with a rag once the 'drawing" had dried sufficiently.

Frontage Road

This is located right out in the boonies of Utah as I don't particularly want to paint well-known or iconic landscape or urban locations as in the end these paintings are about colour and mood and not necessarily about the place itself.
I had a particular lighting situation in mind for this one, a bright moonlit landscape i.e. not too dark but still reading as night time. I think I've got it but not that sure, I didn't want it to look like a fantasy landscape yet I wanted a certain magical feel to it.... oh well on to the next one.
The whole picture has been painted pretty much with transparent colours, a direction that I will continue to explore. 
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.

Frontage Road - stage 4

Finished the sky bar a few later tweaks and tentatively working on the landscape now. I think I am going to work on top of it with scumblings and glazes of blues to get to the look of how I see it in my imagination. I will decide over tomorrow morning's first coffee of the day...

Frontage Road - stage 3

Painted in the second colour pass on the sky but will be finished tomorrow as I need to work on the foreground and landscape first to get the right tone of sky at the horizon - I have a specific look I'm looking for, a night scene but actually relatively light and dusty looking so I will be proceeding with caution. Same colour mixes as yesterday.

Frontage Road - stage 2

Completely cocked up yesterday and got the wrong location and therefore the wrong title for this painting! It is in fact on a road in the middle of nowhere called Frontage Road in Utah...
So, as before this will be a moonlit landscape to which end I have painted the first colour pass on the sky as well as giving the landscape an extra glaze of the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix.
The picture is based around a blue - orange colour complementary, mixes of the following colours being used: Prussian Blue, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White. As in the last painting I am using transparent colours for the sky.