I was comparing art with a fellow painter when it struck me that perhaps others would be interested in seeing the underside of my paintings. This is my current work of the rock formations north of Moab, Utah. As some of you know, I'll be relocating there within the next 6 weeks. So I'm working on larger paintings for the gallery.
Ok, to start off I used a very light purple for the base wash, I usually lay down a warm wash but this felt different. Also, I spent a considerable amount of time with the composition. The exact placement of the main rock, the background cliffs, the foreground trees (not yet painted) and sagebrush arrangements (only rough shadow areas visible). Every detail gets scrutinized on a large format drawing pad with Prismcolor markers usually weeks ahead of production.
The palette is based on a plein air sketch from October's "Plein Air Moab 2012" event. The canvas size is 36" x 36". I went with the square size because it carries a neutral feel, meaning that it isn't bias to horizontal or vertical lines. Also, square equals strength and stability.
Have you every heard of gathering all the remaining leftover paint from your palette, mixing them up and saving it in empty paint tubes? I used this warm grey mix as a base color for all the shadow areas (only shadow areas exist at this stage). The grey has a unifying effect on the overall painting.
I've also decided to change my technique up, by painting the entire scene as in total shadows, then I'll come back in at the end and begin to detail the rim light as being in the sun.
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