Saturday, October 1, 2016

Mt. Shuksan

I went to Artist's Point at the end of the Mount Baker highway last week to paint with my pals from PAWA (Plein Air Washington  www.pleinairwashington.com).

The weather on Thursday was crazy good - 68 degrees, no wind, blue sky!  I painted this 9 x 12 pastel over watercolor (on UART 400) in a couple of hours.  I knew the mid ground was too detailed, too dark and not blue enough because I couldn't make the foreground 'pop'.  I had captured enough information though that I knew I could do a good studio painting with this small work plus the photos I had taken.


A week later I laid in the watercolor under painting for my 18" x 24" studio piece.  
I was painting on 140# cold pressed Arches paper.  Unlike watercolor on UART sanded paper, the watercolor paint on paper can be quite strong and vibrant.


About 20% of the pastel has been laid in here;  I was determined to get the mid ground soft and blue so the foreground would jump forward.  After a while I took out the small plein air study and noticed that I had originally seen the rocks of the mountains as grey, not blue as the reference photos showed them; so I reworked that distant area to simplify and neutralize it.


Here is the final painting.  I like it and feel it captures the spectacular view on that beautiful day.




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