Another Day With Ponderosa Pines

I have done a lot of work on the painting and did not take any photos of the the process for a couple of days. Here is a view with most of the panel covered now. At this point I am seeing that leaving any of the wood showing is probably not going to happen. I think the scene was too complicated for me to figure out where it would work to leave the wood grain showing. Oh well, next time!

But, you can see I have laid in all the various foliages, background through the trees and layers of light showing thru the tree branches.

To the right, I have turned the photo to a grey scale so I can see what the values are doing. As you know the colors can sometimes confuse the issue and you think you have made a good choice, but not.

I enjoy using the paints straight from the tube and mixing them as I paint on the surface. Greens are mostly mixed, but not the other colors. There are also tube paints by Gamblin called "Radiants" -- they have Radiant Blue, Radiant Green, Radiant Red, Radiant Turquoise, Radiant Violet, Radiant Yellow, Radiant Lemon -- and there are a couple more I can't think of the names, one being a different type of red. I use these paints to lighten my other colors instead of using white. This allows me to use the correct temperature to lighten rather than the cool white.  Of course you can always use a color around the color wheel to lighten or darken your colors which is a great way to do so. No black and no white! But that is just my thought on it. Also, these Radiant colors are good "straight from the tube" for creating those background colors peeking thru the tree trunks!

On the left is the next photo I took after a couple of hours of work. I have started adjusting the branches to look believeable and added some branches with no foliage. I can still see there are a few branches with foliage that don't make sense, so I will have to assess those.

Also, I'm creating the light thru the branches with colors of the sky (which is yellow), but I am adding a light blue at the edges of the yellow next to the branches to create the look you see when the dark of the branch makes the sky area a little darker. This is called "simultaneous contrast" -- at least that is the term that is coming to mind. So, there is a transition color and value from the light of the sky and the dark of the branches and foliage!

I have also changed the roadway from a paved one to a gravel road. This allows me to create a more interesting road in my opinion.

Next I will be working on the tree trunks and deciding which ones need more color, and which ones need to recede. I remember being told once by a teacher the trunks are either "grey" trunks or "red" trunks. I don't think those were the exact terms he used, but that was the gist. Variety is the best way in my opinion. Not all tree trunks should be a reddish brown! So . . . we shall see what I come up with. Let me know what you think.