A trio of fall color pastels

As promised in yesterday's post.

First two on #400 sandpaper; second on my last sheet of w/c paper toned with Golden pumice ground + black acrylic.

Fall Shadows

8.5 x 11 inches

Based on a photo taken during my shoot last week in La Plata Cyn, this lone oak with its dramatic late afternoon light and shadows captures the essence of fall.  Shortly after I took this photo, the sun fell behind the ridge, and the light was gone.  I placed the clouds to form a diagonal with the tree and rocks and balance the composition a bit.  It's my favorite of this group.  NuPastel, Unison and Senneliers.

Fall on the Animas

11x9 inches

The late morning sun backlit these riverside trees (not cottonwoods) and produced a beautiful contrast (and reflection) in the river.  It's been a while since I've done water and reflections, and don't want to get too rusty, since I'll be painting many more of the Animas in the future.  I whipped it out in about an hour yesterday.  Mostly NuPastels for this.

Fall color along Ohwiler Ridge

9x12 inches

Another from the La Plata Cyn shoot.  The bold shapes and fall color blocks lent themselves nicely to an abstracted image, so that's what my goal was for this painting.  This is also the first time I used finger blending on the black surface; normally, it kills the color, but it worked well here, probably because the grit allowed for additional layering.  

We are heading to Moab tomorrow for an overnight trip and 2 days of hikes around the Colorado river and Arches NP, so I'll try to load up some more photos from our Canyonlands trip for Thurs and Friday's posts.