Evening Glow

Another atmospheric watercolor inspired by red skies. I've discovered this effect can only be achieved on hot pressed paper. I first tried it on cold pressed and the colors just soaked in and looked washed out. I'm doing more and more work on hot pressed paper. I like the way it keeps the colors vivid. I used aureolin yellow, brown madder, burnt sienna for the sky and french ultramarine with burnt sienna with a little sepia for the trees.

At The Cliff's Edge

I have not posted anything in a while. Had a dry period which seems to happen around this time of year. I am drawn to dramatic landscapes and this scene of a lone tree at the top of a cliff appealed to me. As I described in my previous blog, there are these really tall cliffs as one walks along beautiful Kehoe Beach in west Marin, CA. A number of trees have fallen down the cliff and lay at the bottom, along the beach. This watercolor was also an exercise in creating texture and I was rather pleased with the result. The underpainting was raw sienna over which I used a pale Indigo for the sky. For the cliff I used burnt sienna, burnt umber, french ultramarine and sap green. The distant hills are cobalt blue.