Abstracted Cloudscape #15: redux

Here is my latest (and maybe last, for a bit) abstracted cloudscape.   It's actually a completely new version of #9.  Different palette and different approach, although it's still not exactly what I was hoping for.  What prompted me to redo it was an experiment, of sorts - I had some square cut papers for this series sitting on my studio table, which is a beautiful walnut inlay of Danish modern design.  In this dry climate, it needs to be oiled periodically to keep the wood from drying out.  Apparently, I'd neglected to wipe off the excess Old English oil, and although the table looked and felt completely dry, some small spots of oil had spread onto the bottom sheet of paper.

Wondering if this would ruin the paper for painting, I decided this would be a good two-way experiment to see if the oil would soak through the pastels and show on the paper and re-do the earlier piece.

abstracted cloudscape #15 - approaching sunset, #2

12x12 inches

Strathmore 500-series paper (dark blue)

For this, I used blues that were slightly grayer/warmer than the previous version (which can be seen by panning down the page a bit).  I got rid of the pinks and peaches and stuck with yellows and gray-muaves.  I also tried to improve the composition a bit by spreading the clouds out.  And tried to keep it looser with minimal finger blending.  I like it better than v.1.

I am itching to get back to some landscapes, and also want to start working in oils.  I have two small pieces, one in oils, one in pastels, that are completed as I write this.  I'll probably post those tomorrow.  My goal now is to work on doing at least 100 oil paintings, and to complete at least 2-3 pieces per day, in oils and/or pastel.