Painting in Black Star Canyon

As the basic elements of the background were put in I moved to the middle and foreground.  Because the painting was almost entirely different gray colors I wanted to make sure that I captured the differences in value while maintaining the light key.  This is an important part of any painting but for some reason it is not something I conscious about.

I had to decide what how dark I would make the middle ground and the foreground in relation to the background so that the distance would seem believable.  I also focused on the how light and blue the grays I used to help define the distance and maintaining the overcast feeling.

The sage in the foreground was naturally gray anyway so the lighting made it easier to make it warmer.  I felt like I really nailed the variation of values and maintained the light key in the middle and foreground.