Painting in Black Star Canyon

I was supposed to meet a group of people to paint in Black Star Canyon.  I couldn't find the group.  I wasn't sure if I looked in the wrong spot or the event was canceled.  After driving around trying to find it I decided to just stop and start painting.  The day was overcast and I was not sure if the sun was going to come out at all.  The red rocks presented a challenge because the color of them would be hard to put into atmospheric perspective.

I had prepared four boards to paint on that morning.  I picked this blue gray color because I thought it was what the lighting that day was going to be.  It turned out to be a good choice.  This board is about 24"X36".  After doing a sketch I got a good feel for the composition.  As it turned out I did not get everything in the painting I wanted to but I did not want to sacrifice the shape of the rocks in the background.

I started with the background in this painting because I thought it was the most important part of the painting to get right.  It had the most challenges.  Some of the problems I had to solve were;  the light changing on the face of the rocks, making sure that the rocks were not too bright or red so that they would stay in the back ground, getting the detail in the rocks and the trees without detracting from the middle and foreground.