Red Rocks Western Acrylic

Red Rocks
16"x11"
Acrylic
This one has taken its good old time coming together.  I started with a recycled gallery wrapped canvas that I got at the thrift store.  It had a glicee on it that I had to sand off.  It came out rather spotty, so already I wasn't off to a good start and feared the paint might not want to stick.  I started with a photo that I had taken, but felt it was too sparse, so  I found another photo that had a more dramatic sky than what my photo had.    I think I am finally done playing with this one.

 
Still no go.  This is what I originally had, just the skinny center section.  But it looked too empty and the foreground was boring rock.  I also thought what I had done was way too detailed for as far away as the rock was, so time to look for a photo I could pick features to add from.  Enter Franklin's photo where I added more rock formations.  Also decided to use the scrubby  bushes as the foreground because I liked the dull greens again the reddish rocks. 

Here I thought/hoped I was done, but no.  You  can see off the easel, objectivity says this is way too monochromatic - where were the red rocks? So I put the original photo of Franklin's reference and this into black/white so I could more clearly see the lights and darks in both pictures.  Also I took Franklin's photo and really saturated the color so I could more easily pick out where I needed to add the color that would add the drama.  By the way I took all three paintings and put them into a blank word document so I could easily see them all together to make adjustments.   In that document I can also enlarge to get good look at sections.
Again thought I was done, but when I came back in morning the color I added really wasn't showing. Also I got an email from a friend, Ro Lovelock at PMP, who did a little work for me adding in more darks and suggesting I get more drama and oomph in the picture.  So worked on it again and came up with the first picture. 

I am having issues photographing this, so it appears a bit darker in the photos than it is in real life.  This time I put it into noir format so the darks really stood out and went at it again.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

The People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world - usually do Steve Jobs

Comments

Helen said…
Really nice finished product! Very wise changes, revisions, tweaks. That whole using only black and white image to see tones thing really does work, doesn't it.
H
February 18, 2017 at 4:13 PM
Mellowood Gallery said…
It is great to see the process for this piece Nelvia and the finished painting is super. I wonder if brightening the tops of the bushes will help to separate them a bit more from the background, although the blending I see might be a result of the photo and not an aspect of the painting. The recycled canvas seems to have worked okay too. Have a great day!
February 19, 2017 at 11:30 AM
Joan Tavolott said…
Having been to Sedona I think you nailed the color of the red rocks! I like your scrubby bushes which do look like what is there. Loved seeing the stages and your description of how you worked on it to get it to the final stage. Bravo!
February 19, 2017 at 6:07 PM
Jane said…
I really like the diversity of your subjects , always something new and interesting to look at. Beautiful color of the rocks, make me think of the Grand Canyon that I visited many years ago.
February 19, 2017 at 6:27 PM
Sheila said…
Thanks so much for sharing your process. Very interesting :) The final piece is wonderful, and eye catching! I love your sky, and the rocks, their details draw me in. The foreground is perfect. It adds to the whole, without taking away from the star of the show.
February 20, 2017 at 2:45 PM
Janet Bradish said…
Great info on your process. Love the colour of the rocks and the scrubby vegetation in the foreground and the sky is wonderful too. Really nice painting.
February 20, 2017 at 11:00 PM
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