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...