Coal Canyon Revisited

I found the original reference photographs.

I found some Kitty Wallis paper which I had bought a couple of years ago.  I had bought a 9 yard roll of professional grade paper.  Production of the paper has ceased and was scarce.

I measured out the size and cut down the paper.  I taped them down to some foam core.

I then selected the water color pallet I would use for both paintings.

I then laid down the water color as a initial sketch focusing on the colors, the values, and the placement of elements in the landscape.

I worked from one painting to the next at each step in the process.

I put down about three washes of water color before I started to apply my pastels.

As I added color with pastel to each painting, I made sure to set the colors aside.  

I made sure work both paintings with the same colors.  When I had worked a specific group of colors in one area of a painting, I then worked the other with the same group of colors.

I only used the reference photographs in the creation of the new versions of the originals.  I did not reference my painting process to the originals.  I did not want to second guess the decision making process.  I believed that using the reference photographs and the originals would eliminate some of freshness of approach needed to create a cohesive work.

The customer wanted both paintings to be in the same color vein. The customer liked the pallet used in Coal Canyon and wanted Laguna Niguel to use the same colors.  The two new works were to be companion pieces. 

Coal Canyon 19.5" X 25".