DAY 10 THE QUICKENING PACE

THE GORGE | Pastel | 6x8

In days of old, I worked briefly as a white water rafting guide on the American River upstream from Sacramento.  My favorite run was called The Gorge. When the waters would quicken their pace from the narrowing channel, my pulse would quicken with them.  I had a big smile on my face the whole time painting this and loved the somewhat abstract canyon walls I ended up with.

Process:  I love Art Spectrum Aubergine paper for cool toned paintings.  Here, I added some Terry Ludwig darks - aubergine (French for 'eggplant'), dark blue and my darkest teal, spritzed it into the paper with a small travel hairsprayer filled with ISO alcohol. This is an ideal study for a large format but the rocks will take more strokes, rather than the fleeting touches I so enjoyed putting on this one. And the result will be quite different, I'm sure.