Irvine Park with LPAPA

Knowing I would  be painting in the canyon part of the park, I chose this color because it would feel right with the atmospheric conditions.

I got to the park around 9 am and checked out who was painting.  Among the painters there were Barbara Davidson, Dan Young, and Debra Huse.

The haze down the wash was appealing to me for my composition.

This was the view I decided to paint.

It was hot and the sun was intense so I set up under a tree.  After my initial sketch to get the composition right, I put all of the elements into my painting with a dark purple color.

I worked on getting the full range of values into place within the painting.

I continued to elaborate on my explanation of values.  There was a real effort to have the colors harmonize in the distance.  

At this point in the painting, I moved my attention to the foreground.  

The colors in the foreground were meant to balance the painting.  The prominence of complimentary colors in the foreground was intended to create the feeling of distance.

The finished painting 24"X 36".

After painting it was time for some lunch with my fellow members of the Laguna Plein Air Painters.