Four Corners & Colorado Plateau series - #14, 15 & 16

Two from yesterday and one from today.  Replaced the WMO's with Gamblin colors for the first two, but still had issues with paint getting tacky/drying very quickly.  So, it's either the canvas paper or something that I haven't figured out yet.  The layers aren't impasto thick, and maybe they should be?

Maybe I just need to *use more paint*.  Maybe by the time I've done 100 of these, I'll have figured it out!

Meeting Place

6x9 inches

oil on canvas paper

A large notch separates the Navajo sandstone of the monocline from the perfectly level Shonto platform.  The makings of a natural arch are seen to the left; Navajo sandstone is one of the sedimentary layers along the Colorado Plateau province that readily forms arches due to weathering patterns.

A Sense of Scale

The sloping  rocks and distal cliffs dwarf a house in the valley floor.

Imposition

The scalloped, fissured facade of the sandstone cliff deters any plans to head north from here.

Aspen on Black

Two more from this informal series of aspen fall colors.

Aspen #3

12x9 inches

pastel on w/c paper toned with black acrylic

At a pull-out along Hwy 550 near Molas Pass, this looks up.  A spruce-covered mountain in the distance anchors the perspective.  I actually re-worked this a bit today, after taking the photo of it yesterday.  Awkward shapes and colors stand out more in photos.  

Aspen #4

12x9 inches

pastel on w/c paper toned with black acrylic

I was drawn to the gradation of bright yellow to pale to dark greens in this stand lit by late afternoon sun.  Small patches of orange from a few non-conformist trees add some variety.  I see I forgot to scumble the sky colors a bit better.  One thing about this home-made surface:  it doesn't have lots of tooth, and doesn't take kindly to attempts to create fine lines (like tree trunks).  

And, finally, what prompted me to work on dark paper and re-think my approach to painting this aspen series, specifically the term "overworked":

Fail.

18x12 inches 

pastel on green Strathmore 500-series paper

I plan to revisit this on the black surface, since there are elements I love about the original photo.

Four Corners & Colorado Plateau series - #12, 13

Two more, as we head west and the road forms a tangent with the monocline.  I worked on these yesterday, and continued to have issues with the paint - it became sticky-tacky not long after the initial blocking in, which made wet in wet reworking impossible.

Frustrating, but I think I may have figured out part of the problem:  two of my paints are W&N Artisan water-miscible oils.  I've been painting with WMO's for years; in fact, I started with those vs. traditional oils as no solvents are necessary.  As time went on, I began to add traditional oils, as I wanted to try techniques like glazing and washes with mediums (eg, Liquin) that negate any advantage to the WMO's as far as not using toxic solvents for clean-up.

The two colors - Aliazarin crimson and yellow ochre - are thick and not at all buttery like the Gamblin paints.  I've been adding a combination of walnut oil and glazing medium to them to improve the consistency, but it doesn't last.  I know walnut oil tends to speed up the drying time, but it's almost like I'm painting with alkyds!   When I was painting in multiple thin layers and using glazing techniques, the rapid dry time was great.  Now...not so much.

Along the monocline

6x8 inches

oil on canvas paper

SOLD

Try to ignore the badly-painted highway lines...the definite shortcoming of the painting.  

Uprising

6x8 inches

oil on canvas paper

One of a few more that indulge my fascination and adoration of the geology, although it doesn't show as well as I'd hoped.  The uplifted sandstone forms a wedge with fissures eroded away on its surface, in which pinyon and juniper trow.  This painting fails to show that scale of this massive rock slope.

Off to the store to replace those paints...

Aspen on black

Sometimes, it takes a failed painting (or attempt) to act as the impetus for trying something new, or at least different.  In this case, it was another pastel of fall colors that managed to quickly head for the rut and stay there.   Despite putting a couple hours into it, which was probably part of the problem, it just got worse.

So, yesterday, I tried something different.  A discussion on WC about painting on black paper prompted me to experiment with some watercolor paper and black acrylic paint as a surface.   I've always liked working on black paper; it makes the pastel colors much more intense.

I also was reminded of why it's often a good idea to do thumbnails of complex scenes to distill them down to a series of simple abstracted shapes in 3-4 values, and as a reminder that often "less is more" when it comes to detail in a painting.

These are a step towards abstracting the landscape.   I was also needing a high-chroma color fix, so these  paintings are good for that.  They are fun to paint and I'm really enjoying working with the bright colors and compliments.

Aspen #1

12x9 inches

pastel on cold press watercolor paper toned black

Aspen #2

12x 7.5 inches

pastel on w/c paper toned black

Orange aspen?  Not the usual color, but certain stands are pale orange.  Add some late afternoon backlighting and they positively glow orange!  There is a small stand of them along Hwy 550 near Coal Bank Pass, with a convenient pull-out, which is where the photos that this painting is based on.

This is the cropped version; the original had the center tree right in the center and some misc. trunk/busy-ness over on the right.

Here is the page of 4x3" thumbnails I did for a few of these yesterday:

Four Corners & Colorado Plateau series - #10, 11

Only two paintings completed yesterday, as I got a late start in the day painting.  

Juniper slope

6x8 inches

oil on canvas paper

What drew me to this scene, both as a photo and as a painting subject, were the clusters of juniper trees as a series of abstract forms, of shades of green against the sandy slope.  More practice rendering trees, in warm and cool green-grays.  The slope wasn't really pink like this, but my paint was getting tacky so fast once it was on the paper, I couldn't fix it easily.  

Approaching the monocline

6x8 inches

oil on canvas paper

I got into a groove with this painting, and spent more time detailing it out - the Jimi Hendrix tribute CD seemed to work well for that!  Organ Rock monocline is angling in from the north towards the highway, and the tilt of the Navajo sandstone becomes the remarkable feature of the land.  

Four Corners & Colorado Plateau series - #7, 8, 9

Yesterday's paintings, finished last night, and too late to photograph and post.

Since this series is all about experimentation and exploration of techniques and materials with oils, I switched three things for these:  surface, canvas size, and underpainting.

While 5x7 is a good size for working small paintings that can be completed relatively quickly, I'm not so sure it is the ideal size to be using when trying to paint discreet areas in a landscape...at least for me at this stage.  Having also run out of the gessoed cards that I'd made up, I switched to canvas paper - a 9x12 sheet torn in half was a bit

I have never liked painting on a white surface, either with pastels or oils, which is why I used colored papers and utilized washes for many pastel paintings.    I also hate waste, in any form, so as I was finishing up painting #6 a few days ago, it suddenly occurred to me to use the leftover paint for underpaintings, which seemed like it would solve two issues at once.  The paints, mixed together, formed a warm brown, which was perfect.

Oh, and I added Cerulean blue to the palette for the sky - UB plus white tends to make for harsh, washed-out skies when used by itself.

Towards Black Mesa - #7

Past Kayenta, Hwy 160 drops down off this gentle rise and heads due west towards Black Mesa on the left.  Clouds were loosely based on view out my window as I was painting this yesterday.

Underpainting wash for #7, with paint mix, OMS, and a #10 hog bristle filbert.

Agathla Peak - #8

Agathla Peak is another volcanic diatreme, like Church Rock, north of Kayenta along Hwy 163.  It is visible from Hwy 160, slightly hidden behind Navajo sandstone slopes.  The peak is actually a bit too big in the painting.

#8 underpainting

North towards Shonto platform  - #9

Plains and Great Basin grassland and desert scrub give way to pinyon-juniper woodland.  This was a good chance to mix various greens, and color mixing is one of my favorite things about working with oils.  The gray-blue in the foreground is sage; I quickly blocked it in but was too tired to detail it out by that time. 

#9

Conclusion:  these simple wash underpaintings are definitely the way to go for all future paintings; unlike white, I don't mind if the warm brown of the underpainting shows through in areas.  

Early Fall - pastel

Since embarking on this new series of roadtrip paintings in oils, I've realized that I have no reason to stop working in pastel, and I cannot resist the urge to paint the aspen in their splendid fall colors.  So, here is another fall color painting, also based on a photo taken during our Purgatory Flats hike 1 1/2 weeks ago.

When I consider what I'm going to paint, there is always some purpose behind the choice.  It is either inspiration or a chance to solve problems and try new techniques, or a a bit of both.  When looking through my photo collection, I never have a problem remembering what it was that inspired me to take the photograph initially, and for the photo that this painting is based on, it was the contrast of the trio of smooth, pale aspen trunks set against a grassy field and a stand of aspen in deep shade.  Since I spend the time composing my photos before I take them rather than relying on taking multiple shots of the same scene and just hoping for something good, my editing process is fast and usually is limited to either resizing the photo for the paper and eliminating distracting or non-essential elements (in this case, a small aspen sapling to the left of the photo).

One of the challenges of painting a stand of trees is how to address the problem of all that detail and distill it down so it: 1) doesn't distract from the POI; 2) doesn't become exasperating to try and paint.  I have found that it takes practice and training to look at a scene, whether in real life or a photo, and just break it down into simple shapes and abstract forms.  This concept is mentioned in probably every landscape painting book worth its salt, including Carson's guide to landscape painting, but I see failures to do this often, and there's definitely a fine line to walk between TMI and not enough in one's painting.  It's a never-ending quest as an artist.

So, that was the challenge for this painting.   I started it last night after doing a batch of oil wash underpaintings for upcoming Four Corners roadtrip oils.

Early fall

9x11 inches

pastel on 400#-grit sanded paper mounted on matboard

Even looking at this now, I think the distal trio of aspen against the treeline needs to be re-worked and either thinned out or just darkened, as do the shadows of the right proximal aspen trunk.  I seem to have a real problem at times drawing straight lines (too much coffee, perhaps?), especially if they are fine, so that was another thing that could be improved.  Working on a sanded surface makes it easier, though.  

I'll probably keep on interspersing the fall color pastels in between the oil series.

And, here are some photos from today's drive down into northern NM, from Aztec over to Navajo Dam and the San Juan river.  Beautiful clouds graced the drive and it was raining to the east as we hit Hwy 160 back to Durango.  

Building storm to the north

Taken from just east of Aztec, these clouds are actually over the San Juans in CO

Cumulus towers over San Juan basin

The cliffs of the distal mesa guide the direction of the San Juan as seen along the highway

Navajo Lake & marina

Late-blooming rabbitbrush is found throughout the region

Approaching the storm

Back in CO and on the southern Ute reservation south of Ignacio, the storm continues to grow to the north

Poor planning

A center pivot irrigation system is busily working away while rain falls not too far away

Now that I've geared up and have been painting almost daily, I am thinking that I'll continue to relegate photos behind the paintings.  Perhaps the more consistent content will be better appreciated by readers?