Large Format, Yet Again

Well, the vote here at home was to retain the foreground hill, but to minimize its influence in the painting. So, I increased the amount of real estate the shadow occupies on the hill's left side so that it is almost entirely in shadow now. I left a little light to give an idea of its form. I also minimized the detail in the shadows; elsewhere in the painting, that's the way the shadows are working. Small details and rich color will appear either in shadow or light - but not in both. In this painting, all the detail and color really is in the sunlit portions, so this helps with the consistency of lighting.

Also, I wanted to post the other large painting, the one that really had two paintings in it. Here are the two halves. I've put the bottom on top, so your mind won't inadvertently rejoin the two halves.

I've really enjoyed reading the variety of suggestions and opinions. I'd like to hear what you think of these revisions.

Not Done with the Large Format - Yet!

Several days ago, I posted the "finished" version of a couple of large pastel paintings I did on-location. One obviously needed more work, and it provoked a number of useful comments. (To be sure, I have actually taken scissors to the painting and cut it in half. I'll post the "new" finished version of this one once I take some good photos of it.) But the one that I thought really was finished also got a lot of comments, especially over in the Wetcanvas.com plein air forum. As a reminder, here's the painting (9x24):

Some folks had a problem with the foreground hill, claiming it read more like a staircase or pathway into the distance rather than like a little hill. One commentor suggested that changing the shape so it wasn't triangular would solve the problem. Well, I can't do that because it's a well-known landform, and the local residents would get upset if I just took a backhoe to it. Others suggested hardening lines, darkening shadows, etc., to correct the illusion. Or move it to the left a bit so it didn't point so directly into the distance.

One suggestion I made was to remove the hill entirely. The reason I suggested this is that there is probably some point near where I painted where I could have had a very similar view, but without the hill. I'm not sure the hill is entirely necessary. So this morning I ran the image through the Photoshop mill, and below is the result. I find Photoshop a really useful tool in these cases. Hasty erasures or cuts with scissors are impossible to "undo" otherwise.

I'm interested in hearing your opinion on this piece. Remove the hill, fix it in some way, or just leave the thing alone - your vote counts!

Normally, I wouldn't spend this much time on a plein air painting, But my intention was to get this piece (and the other) as close to completion outdoors as possible. With any plein air piece, large or small, you will run into problems like this that would perhaps be more easily foreseen in the calm and quiet of the studio. And since I have invested considerable time on them, both outdoors and now inside, I'll keep at it. It's a great learning experience!

Picking a Subject - New Video

I've finished a new mini-video in my Plein Air Essentials series. This one is called "Picking a Subject." I've had lots of students in my plein air painting workshops over the years who pick subjects that just don't work. This 6 1/2 minute video is designed to show you what guidelines I follow when looking for a suitable plein air subject.

The video, which features some of Sedona's fabulous Red Rock country, is only $1.49 and is available through Lulu.com at my store, http://stores.lulu.com/miragenm.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about the Plein Air Essentials series and about this one in particular.

Free Pastel Painting Demonstration

I'm doing a free pastel painting demonstration today from 3-4 pm at our studio gallery, Pumphouse Studio Gallery. We've got a big Arizona sycamore tree down by the old pumphouse, and I've been aching to paint it. If you're not familiar with these trees, they are huge! Here's the one I'll be painting. I took a photo of it for you yesterday:

I hope to see you at the demonstration! In case you don't know where we are, we are in the lowest level of Creekside Plaza, just across the road from the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village. They've finished construction on this road, and we even have a nice crosswalk from Tlaquepaque.

Large-Format Pastels - Revisited

I've had a chance now to revisit the two large pastels I did in the field the other week. I'm very satisfied with the 9x24 panorama of Lee Mountain and the Rabbit's Ears. Here is the finished version:

On my second trip, which immediately followed the first day, I spent three hours refining my first day's work. As you may recall, that first day I was able to capture the light and shadow patterns and basic color temperature relationships. In the second outdoor session, I refined shapes. Refining shapes also meant breaking up bigger shapes into smaller ones and thus creating an illusion of more detail. Like most outdoor painters, I then spent some time in the studio - two hours - adding finishing touches. One major change I made in the studio was to the foreground hill. It was simply too warm and jumped out of the picture plane. To integrate it more fully into the painting, I severely cooled down the colors, both in the shadow and lighted areas. I think this painting works just fine.

The second painting, the one of the canyon beneath the view of Munds Mountain, I'm not so satisfied with. I followed pretty much the same process as with the Lee Mountain painting - light/shadow and temperature relationships the first day, and refining shapes the second day. Once in the studio, though, I realized I had an obvious composition problem, which a large mirror helped reveal to me. I wiped out the area and repainted it. I also felt the temperature difference between near and far could be pushed a bit, so I adjusted it. I played up the reflected light in the shadows, lessened the contrast in the mountains and cooled them down a bit.

Yet, I intuitively feel something is still "off" in the painting. I've tried to reason it out using the five basic questions:

• Is it a composition problem?
• If not, is it a value problem?
• If not that, is it a problem with color?
• Well, then, is it a problem with aerial perspective?
• What about the mark-making, then?

I'm still thinking on this one. To me, it seems like there's too much going on and the painting still seems a bit flat, with not enough depth in it.

I'd love to hear your opinions! Here it is, 24x18: