Valley of Fire

   This painting is probably one of my favorites. It's one of the few that I can honestly say that there's nothing else I could, in fact, should, add to the panel. It wasn't a smooth sailing to the end result but everything did seem to work out quite well.

The top question I get ​about this painting is: 

​How did you decide to make the painting on the L-shaped surface?
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​Here's the story I tell:
   I was taking in the great expanse of the Seven Sisters at Valley of Fire when I noticed that one of the pillars towered over the left side of my vision while the rest of the scenery spilled out across my sight. For months it was in the back of my mind to paint but something held me back from starting. It was only once I was looking into unique painting surfaces and saw an L-shaped wood panel that I knew the landscape would be a perfect fit for it. A standard rectangle panel would not do the composition justice. This way the viewer’s eye would be struck by the strength of the pillar then be gently led to take in the rest of the setting.

   (Technically though, this wasn't the first time I've made an L shaped painting. Check out this blog post here to see the first iteration.)

   Here are some progress I took as I worked on the piece. I started with a colored pencil drawing on the panel (that I had primed with gesso, aka white acrylic paint). I slowly started to layer the paint until I reached the desired result.

 
   I love the below image because the drawing looks pretty rad until you look at the rocks on the left. The base looks fantastic but the column is a hot mess. I attempted to draw the rocks and shadows but got really bored. All I wanted to do was paint. And I figured that I would shift around the shadows and rocks as needed so there was really no point in getting a detailed drawing in. All the major components that I wanted were present.
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   You can tell how much I changed the color of the larger mountain ridge (on the right) when you compare the above and below photos. The above mountains look more gray/blue while the below mountains are more purple-y. They're not the 'perfect' color, but I think it definitely looks better than my first try. Somehow, really distant mountain ranges look INSANELY vibrant, yet muted. I don't know how to describe it. You can see that they are in the distance, and therefore not detailed and slightly muddy but they also come off very bright. I tried my best to capture that truth.
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   If you look closely, I did alter some aspects of the composition. In real life, the rocky turned sandy pathway simply faded off into the distance to the NE but after I painted it, I didn't care for how it looked. I decided to extend the pathway and curve it to the left, therefore drawing the viewer's eye back into the composition and 'trapping' it, so to speak, in the center of the piece. Anything that lets the viewer's eyes wander or get thrown off the edge is a big no-no.


   I didn't really know what I was doing or how to accomplish what I wanted. I just finagled (is that a word?) with the tones and shadows until the new pathway looked somewhat believable. I think it came out not terribly.
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