Thursday, April 7, 2016

DAVIS RANCH VISTA


         
                     Davis Ranch Vista | Pastel | 12x9

On my first day painting in Winters for their 10th Annual Winters Plein Air, I was happily finishing a painting of a barn when a lovely woman approached me. She liked my work and asked me to come visit her ranch a mile down the road when I was done. The whole ranch was love at first sight for me and I had multiple choices of gorgeousness to paint. We decided on the view of the Blue Ridge from the back of their lovely home.  I spent two late afternoons of sheer delight there doing this commission, painting til I was 'chasing the light' while listening to the blackbirds at the pond just below me!

Painting Notes:  Substrate- Wallis Warm Belgian Mist - a delight to make marks on!   Pushing the furthest hills back and getting the progression down the slope with values and cool/warm was a challenge.  Barbara Jaenicke's words kept repeating in my head: warmer/cooler, lighter/ darker, brighter/duller?  I knew I wanted to have a really spectacular flower/grass foreground so on the night before doing this passage, I went online and watched a You Tube video by Karen Margulis on depicting grasses (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n-MNHNxm6y8). I practiced first, then went right into the passage and was pleased with the result.

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