Monday, November 17, 2008

Nov 17 - No Fires here, but my colors have changed!

Thanks to all who emailed asking if we were affected by the fires. We're fine, about 12 miles from the Freeway Complex fire, but it is horrific none the less. I said I would paint this weekend--but the news and fretting about friends kept me glued to the monitor and the web news.

Here's the start of an 18-inch square acrylic. No, it isn't smoke and fire, but at this stage I can't help yet see it. All these layers are done with regular "fast dry" acrylics, starting with the get-rid-of-the-white cadmium red light underneath. The scene is evening sunlit rocks, and will continue the landscape with secondary focal point idea--there will be a solitary ground squirrel on one of the rocks, lower left.

The lay in is done with cools, mostly burnt umber, ultramarine blue and some white, contrasting nicely with the warm under painting, and establishing the large masses. I wish I had a good photograph to share with you of the source, but the image is from memory and a really bad photo of the rocks and brush across the street from our old place. Evening light on the rocks was always a color moment! the distant mountains will tone down with additional layers, however right now they appear to have an evening glow.

Tomorrow I'll start with those Open Acrylics and share how that goes.

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