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Saturday, December 22, 2012

A previous paint-out at Lake Tahoe

"Glacial Remnant" oil on panel

A couple of weeks ago I met up with two Lake Tahoe artists and we painted at Sand Harbor State Park.  I did this painting in oil, standing on the beach.  I learned something.  In the winter, the sun is low and passes between trees behind and to the side of me.  The shadows changed 3 times in the two hours I worked on this.  Even though I did a value sketch, I gave up on the morning light with cast shadows and just worked on mixing various greys and trying to establish the form of the rocks.

When I got home and looked at the painting, it looked quite dull and bland.  But, it was a good start.  So, I printed out the photos I took of the place, sprayed on a light fixative to give the dried paint a wet look again, and started painting over my "underpainting" with brighter colors and worked on the cast shadows from the photos.  Now, I am happier with it.  I learned a lot.
The "underpainting" done plein air

1 comment:

ti-igra said...

Wow, Carolyn! They are realistic! So dark and blue water and so warm in second painting! I enjoy so much your post, and I can imagine, how light is passing around rocks and Lake Tahoe :) I love them so much!
Happy Hollidays! Mery Christmas!!!!!! <3