#30×30 Day 04 : Cloud Shadows

I think, this time, I forgot what it was I liked about the subject.

Here is The Watercolor vs. The Photo vs. The Oil Painting.

In today’s watercolor (on the left) I’ve accidentally emphasized the hill in the foreground. In the oil painting, (far right) I made the correct choice – to melt the hill away, and emphasize the dark passage of cloud shadows in the distance.

That dark ribbon pulls you into towards the horizon.

In the watercolor, the dark hill is a stopping point in the mid-ground, which I don’t like as much.

I should have looked at the title for the oil: Cloud Shadow Runs a Black River. That would’ve been a reminder why I liked this view. We went out more than once to this location. There’s a huge red mesa behind us – a giant castle of stone. It’s an impressive place, worth photographing in different light – and a fun place to hike. But I always preferred turning around and looking over the vastness of this plain.

I do have to say though – nothing beats a sky done in watercolor!

I’m a person who paints intentionally sharp edged paintings in oils. I don’t go out of my way to blend colors. I’m more interested in placing strokes.

A watercolor has a beautiful interior softness that you don’t get in impasto.

There’s no reason I can’t have the best of both worlds – and one day I will! But today, this sky is one comparison that shows watercolor at it’s best.

Ok, I’ll show myself out with some close up details of my Day Four. More abstractions found inside the landscape!

~marc