Painting in Zion National Park - Demo

My readers are lucky enough to have had one of my paintings photographed, step-by-step, by one of our painting retreat participants.  I thought I'd post Nancy Vance's photos here.  Nancy has also been documenting the trip in her blog.

This is the painting I did yesterday down by the Virgin River in pastel.   The light was changing fast, and since what stirred my soul was the effect of shadow on water, that's what I started with.  Once I got the foundation of that down, I was able to move to the trees and the mountains in the distance.

The painting was done on a 9x12 sheet of white Wallis sanded paper with a mix of Polychromos and Mount Vision pastels.  The actual painting time in the field was maybe 90 minutes (plus 30 years, as they say) plus another half-hour back at the house.

Adjusting back at the house

The finished painting - SOLD