Thursday, February 21, 2013

A Rework

After the first of the year I went through my storage area in hopes of clearing up some of the clutter of old work. Some of these paintings were sketches trying things out, paintings I wasn't happy with and paintings that I felt were lacking something and in time I'd see it.
This painting was one I felt could use more work down the line. The one thing I wasn't happy with was the mountains. I really wasn't crazy about the highlights on the mountains so I se it aside. The painting had a light coat of varnish on it so I sanded some of the texture off and wiped it down with some gum turpentine. This left the paint flat and ready for reworking.
The mountains actually looked like that but in a few days I didn't lkike those highlights. They would go for a lighter coat of blue/grey and some suggested detail. I also deicded to reqork the foliage, oak scrub, and the hillside grasses adding more color into the painting. The original painting had a more subdued look to it which was ok but I wanted to boost the colors more in the foreground. I'm happier with it now. Funny thing, I didn't use a reference photo for the rework. I just painted over the original making my own changes. After readjusting the mountain ridge line I stepped back to take a good look and realised they now look exactly as the San Gabriel mountains look from almost right below my parents house....ridgeline and all. Must be some subconsious thinking going on here, haha.
  

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