Canyon Country

I originally wanted to paint in the canyons.  I found a couple of locations that had amazing views from above the canyons, but they were not locations I could paint with because my set up weighs about 50 or 60 pounds.

I really liked all of the elements of the painting.  The shadows on the grass, the highlights on the bushes under the eucalyptus tree, the value contrasts between the sunset and the silhouette of the trees and the color of the hill in shadows all made this composition for me. 

At this point, I thought I was finished and I was ready to pack everything up when I noticed that my pastel box had shifted in my back pack and was an utter mess.

 I pulled out all of the pieces at the bottom of the box and set them on top.  A lot of pastellists arrange their boxes by color.  I have organized my pastels this way and find that it helps and hurts color selection at the same time.  When different colors are mixed together the reference is different than when all of the colors are similar to each other.

 Instead of just rearranging my pastels I made it an exercise in color.  Before I would put away a color I had to use it in the painting.

The sun was almost below the profile of the hill when I finished.

The last of the summer light was magical.

The final result measures 24"X 24".