The Exit To San Breta - stage 11

I have painted in the basic lettering on the signs and will work over them tomorrow morning to slightly distress the sign surfaces to make them look more real. I have also made a start on the gas station and Edsel car parked in the light as well as painting the desert up to the edges of the lit areas.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 10

Just managed to get a couple of hours work this morning before I am away from the studio until Saturday. Basically have been working on the desert, the road sign and made the white wooden cross larger. I think the sky is now finished.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 9

Just darkened the overhead clouds a bit with a semi-opaque mix of Indanthrene Blue, Kings Blue Light and Permanent Orange, made the sky slightly darker at left and I reckon the sky is now about finished. I wanted this certain stage of late dusk just before night properly descends when there is still some light in the sky. I then started to work on the transition of the road from the pockmarked foreground to the more pristine surface nearer the gas station, my idea for the lighting is now becoming apparent with the artificially lit gas station at left contrasting with the dusk landscape, blue and orange - a favourite complementary combination.
I then made a start on the nearest road sign using a mix of manganese Violet and Genuine Chinese Vermilion making sure that it looks a bit distressed.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 8

Another glaze of Indanthrene Blue on the sky and darkening the more overhead clouds as well as darkening the line of distant mountains on the horizon. After some darker underpainting on the road I have started to refine the desert and scrub on the right of the picture. getting more of an idea now as to how the lighting is going to work with the artificial lights on the left contrasting with the dusk-lit landscape.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 7

I have painted the first glaze over the sky although you won't notice a lot of difference at this stage but this is all I have time for before I have to leave Brighton to look after my elderly parents 150 miles away. The next chance I will have to work on it will be Wednesday afternoon when I hope to paint the second glaze. I wanted to glaze it with a certain kind of transparent blue and noticed in Cass Arts a Winsor & Newton colour called Indanthrene Blue which looks like a good call, there was no Michael Harding colour that seemed to fit the bill.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 6

I decided that the sky wasn't ready for glazing so I refined the clouds ready for the first glaze tomorrow instead. I then put in the distant mountains and made a start on the desert.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 5

In the couple of hours I had this morning before going away again I managed to get the sky ready for glazing when I return on Friday. It's a particular time of dusk that I am trying to depict and glazing it from now on should give me enough control over how dark I want it to go (not too dark).
Incidentally I normally work on linen but there is no pre-stretched linen available in this size and format so I tried painting two extra coats of oil primer over the Winsor and Newton canvas, fine sanding between coats. This has given me a surface that is nearer to linen and and seems to take the paint pretty much how I want it. I will do this for other paintings from now on as now I know how to change the surface of the canvas.