Monday, February 21, 2011

Afternoon Light


When I drive a couple of miles north to get to the freeway, there's a view I love. It's a fairly unobstructed view of the mountains with the lithe limbs of a eucalyptus silhouetted in front. When the sun is low in the afternoon, the sky turns rosy and casts a glow on the scene.

There's also a supermarket there, a bank, a parking lot, and very tall street lights, not to mention the distant jumble of unrelated foliage and structures I can't make out. There isn't really a place to stand and paint either. It's a busy intersection, with only narrow strips of sidewalk. I drove up there one afternoon and parked in the corner of the lot and took several pictures from each corner of the the intersection. Eventually I came back to the photographs. I made a drawing of only the parts I liked. I worried it was too simple, and I almost added more. I edited the tree a bit. I tested the colors.

I like this painting very much. It captures the few simple elements that make me love that view as I drive quickly past. I'm going to submit it for the Calypso Moon Artist Movement landscape challenge. It's a 12 x 16 inch watercolor.

7 comments:

  1. Lovely painting, Barbara. I really like the abstract look, and the colors in the mts. and the trees are really great - they shout SoCal. Very nice work!

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  2. love the light and the contrast of the tree leaves and the mountain

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  3. I like your painting, and your description, too.It's a totally unknown lanscape, for me!

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  4. This is very beautiful Barbara, loved the soft shadow play here!

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  5. Beautiful! Looks a bit like my desert, which I love! The mountains are stunning and the trees a wonderful framework for them. How nice to have a painting of one of your favorite driving scenes.

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  6. What a beautiful view. The landscape is wonderful! Good luck with the Challenge.

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