"McClellan Ranch Reverie"

It was another incredible day painting with the Northern California Academy of Painters! We met in Cupertino at McClellan Ranch Park and painted for hours! I was there from 9:30am to 2:30pm! This is the first of two paintings that are variations on the same theme. The drama of the foreground tree with the background trees lent itself to a vertical format.

I sketched quick thumbnails to explore the division of space as well as to study the values. I used Payne's gray/carbazole violet mixture to locate the trees, path, foreground, background and sky. I massed in the shapes with varnish washes, using local color. Lastly, I applied thicker paint to finish up the painting. The color palette used was: Payne's gray, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, carbazole violet, transparent red oxide, fire red, hansa yellow orange, cadmium yellow orange, cadmium medium, cadmium green, and titanium white.