I was fighting with this one, and then I realized why it was not working. I was not using Arches paper. You can see in the sky, how spotty the paint settled. In the cactus as well, but the texture works there. I did nave fun with the saguaro. But I always do. Haha.
I sat down to clean my palette, but instead, I started to paint. I used long strokes on the Saguaro, instead of blending patches of color. I used a blue Le Pen to define. Looking at the scan, I noticed that the cactus and the foreground were too much the same.
I left it overnight and then added blue Posca. Now it’s a bit too much like the sky. Haha. That is what learning looks like. Sometimes.
Had fun in the process, more fun making the animation. FUN!
Loved this true cerulean blue sky with a swish of puffy white clouds.
One clean palette, empties refilled.
New palette filled and ready to go. I bought this palette months ago, 40 or 50% off. Room for six more colors. I sorted my colors before I started filling the wells. I still goofed somehow and ended up with two empty slots. But that gives me room for new colors. My list of wanna try hues is long. Naturally.
I probably shouldn’t have included the two orange colors. I rarely use them. I’ll have to think of something fun to use them for. “Think. Think. Think.” As Pooh would say.
It’s still a wonky collection. But I do have warm and cool hues of the primaries. I’m working on the color chart next. If anyone is interested, I can share that in the next post.
I had fun with this piece. I’ll be honest and tell you, the cliff was a complete accident. After the first drip, I just went with it. I used Yellow ochre at the top, and it is very sedimentary. I went over it with some Burnt sienna, that is why it appears more orange than ochre.
The cacti I painted with gouache. I did enjoy the fact that I did not need to plan their location first. It gave me the opportunity to place them, so they did not hide the best parts of the rough stone.
The slideshow below shows some of the Saguaro cacti that can be seen while driving south on the 17. The images are borrowed from Google Maps. Thank you, Google! They really are more noticeable as you are driving. It’s hard to miss them, there are so many! Zoom in to see them better.
The barrel cactus is a friend for lost travelers in the desert. It grows tilted to the southwest. One type of barrel is in fact named Compass Barrel Cactus! Here are some photos I took at the Mayo’s Cacti garden while Pete was having his treatments.
In the desert a fountain is springing,
In the wide waste there still is a tree,
And a bird in the solitude singing,
Which speaks to my spirit of thee.
LORD BYRON
