Yesterday during the late afternoon, a snow storm brushed us. It didn’t leave much snow, but the clouds had looked ominous as they passed overhead.
As the sky began to clear, revealing a very pale pink sunset, I grabbed an 8″ x 10″ canvas board and quickly captured the colors in oil paints.
The photo is fairly accurate, but the foreground colors aren’t quite as vivid as they look on my monitor, and the sky is more softly blended.
All in all, it was a good sketch and I’ll probably is it to inspire a larger painting on this, as well.
Though some brushwork brings the hills and foreground toward the viewer, most of this painting is almost glassy smooth. I’m using sable brushes in more of my work now, and I think I like the effect.
My color studies and hasty sketches will probably continue to include thick paint and obvious brush strokes.
However, I want to experiment with more Luminist and Tonalist influences in the immediate future. That means a softer overall impression in my work, with smoother surfaces and very blended colors. (See my discussion of this in my post, Sunset – Sunrise Paintings.)
After the Storm
created 28 Jan 2011
oil painting on 8″ x 10″ canvas board