On The Easel

On Thanksgiving I arrived early to Eaton Canyon to snap some reference photos before the rest of the days festivities. Many of the sycamore trees were in half of their autumn colors...green and golds and I actually prefer that period of painting them. There were plenty of fallen golden leaves lining the canyon floor below the sycamores which made for even better shots. I like this scene looking south to Pasadena at the exit of the canyon. Here all you can see is a hazy greenish background but that works perfectly for highlighting the tree.
I'm just about finished with this piece. I'm waiting now to see what changes I want to make....I know they are there and a days wait will point them all out to me. There were a lot of small thin branches off of the tree and I might go back in to add more of those.

This painting was started yesterday afternoon. I painted in the background and base colors of the tree trunks and growth under the trees. Both of those colors were just a dark reddish mixture of ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and a slight bit of cadmium yellow light. Today all of the foreground was finished up....tree trunk colors, sandy trail, leaves, thin branches, the leave covered ground and vegetation under the trees. So far so good. I'll hopefully finish it off early tomorrow morning because in the afternoon I'll be heading down to Pasadena for the show at the gallery. My hope is the gallery will make some sales...not neccesarily mine...just any sales. If I don't finish it tomorrow I'll finish it on Friday morning for sure....then it is off to another painting...another lesson.