Day 20 #stradaeasel
We woke up before dawn to a hazy moon casting its moon beam across the lake surface. The moon was too close to the horizon to get down to the studio in time to paint it. So I did the next best thing and rolled over and went back to sleep. Waking up again did not disappoint. The storm we were expecting still had not arrived and there were beautiful puffy white clouds amidst the blue sky. The horizon however looked ominous and we could see the storm coming.
By the time I got down to the studio, the clouds had moved over us with darker shades of purplish gray. I set up next to the window that allows me to see into Big Arm. I find that I’m enjoying painting clouds in oil—I can blend the different values (lights and darks) more easily than with pastels. Perhaps I need to experiment to come up with a better technique in pastel.
As I painted, the storm advanced but I wanted to keep that lovely touch of blue sky in the upper right. The water had turned a greenish shade of gray and I painted it how I saw it but it looks a little out of place. Had I added a touch of greenish gray in the clouds, it would have harmonized better. Lesson learned!
