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Friday, January 9, 2009

The Short View

"Shadowed Spire"
5x7, oil


The incredible vistas we enjoy in Sedona can be overwhelming. Sometimes, in the face of all that beauty, it's important that we scale down our ambition and select just a small portion to represent in paint.

Yesterday, I decided to select a small nook up in the cliffs to paint. I was intrigued by a pocket of shadow between two towering spires. Even though I must have been a half-mile from my subject, I could see deep into the shadow to spy a smaller spire. I liked the cool shadows around it.

By the way, lately I've been using white paint right from the start. Rather than laying in a transparent underpainting, I mix in white to establish my light values. It's a bit quicker, I find, and also a bit easier to establish the values.