Four Corners & Colorado Plateau series - #5 & 6

Here are two more from the Hwy 160 drive.  One is the Church Rock study that I wasn't originally going to post because it was quickly done and basically just an experiment with the paint already on my palette using canvas paper.  But, today, as I was finishing the smaller piece I started yesterday, I decided to work it a bit more and figured I may as well post it because I didn't get the other piece I started finished, either - I decided to try that in washes, so it had to dry.

The second is the windmill from 2 days ago.  Ugh.  I guess I'm setting myself up for disappointment when I try to paint something detailed and small using a medium I'm not experienced with using.  With pastels, it would have been much easier to control the lines for making the blades on the windmill.  Here, well...you'll see.

I'm out of the gessoed boards I made, so I'm off to the art store to pick up some small canvas panels.  We'll see if painting on those is any better/worse.

Church Rock study - #5

9x12 inches

oil on canvas paper

Since this was just a study, no thought was given to composition, so there it is - right in the center of the paper.  I was really interested in playing around a bit with the subtle mauves and grays, along with the shadows, in the structure itself.  I really didn't want to spend much more time on it, but it does look a little better than it did after the first session.

Desert water - #6

5x7 inches

oil on gessoed card

Windmills are a common occurrence in arid climates such as the Colorado Plateau; they are often the only source of water for miles.  I'm not sure if this is still actively collecting water or not; the tank itself had a range of colors from the metal and rust, and some graffiti that I wasn't going to attempt to paint.  Despite how unimpressive this small painting turned out, I could see doing a larger, more detailed painting of the same subject later.  The dark red cliffs in the background open up to Monument Valley.