Box Canyon

I painted close to home because I got a late start.  This area is on the southern border of the Chino Hills State Park.  

Set up and blocked in.

My simplified initial composition.  Here I have developed an understanding of what my painting will be.  From here it is about elaboration and clearer definition of my initial concept.

Here I am refining and defining the composition through the addition of all of the items I want to include in the painting.

Now my intent is to develop all of the elements within the composition.  I want them to relate to each other within the painting and reinforce their appearance respective to the lighting, distance, and perspective.

The painting is fairly flat in it's atmospheric perspective.  At this stage I begin to create the feeling of distance within the painting by adjusting the values between the foreground. middle ground, and back ground. 

The adjustment in value is also creating further detail within the painting.  The marks that I am making are intended to be final touches.  There will be successive layers of marks as I progress through the values but I am seeking to speed up my process.  

As I work from dark to light in my mark making the successive layers of lighter values continues to define the shapes within the painting and creates greater detail.  I am working to keep the warmer colors in the foreground to help create the feeling of distance within the painting.

As I notice issues with the continuity of my ideas within the painting, I make adjustments.  In the preceding picture you can see the warmth of the hills in the background.  I had to tone them down to create the right sense of distance.

The last things adjusted were to make the trees in the foreground darker and the trees on the hills lighter.  The highlights on the trees were the frosting for the painting.

The finished painting "Box Canyon"  24 x 32 plein air oil on board.

The value shot.  Is there enough separation between values within the painting?  When it is done right, it looks like a realistic black and white photograph.

The detail shot reveals the quality of the color choices, the mark making and the abstract elements within the painting.