Sedona Cathedral Rock

Color study of Cathedral Rock.

Working on multiple paintings with similar subject, allows me to investigate and refine the color, design, drawing, and other elements that go into creating a painting. You'll see in the photo reference for this piece that I don't have any images with the color and mood taken on site, that I was trying to capture. Most of our hiking was late morning till late afternoon. Even if I managed to be at the right place at dawn or dusk there is no guarantee that I would see dramatic light. Besides that, photos can't reproduce the vast amount of visual information that we can see. But digital cameras allow the artist to see a small image of a photo instantly, so I'm able to analyze the photo and the reality at the same time. I then make notes of what I observe and what the camera reproduces.  What I note is not reality, but my interpretation of reality.  I'm not trying to copy the scene, I'm certainly not capable of that.  The painting is a personal representation.

 OK, so where does the mood and color idea originate?  Below are photos of dramatic light.  When I shot these I was able to study and note what I observed vs what the camera reproduced.  The exposure needed to capture the rich color in a lit sky will render the ground elements mostly black. But that's not what we see.

All of these photos were taken either on the front porch, or the back deck, of our home in Wisconsin.

Here are 2 of the digital color sketches I created as I was investigating the concept.

The final painting of Cathedral Rock in Sedona Arizona.  I now have completed 6 paintings, so far, with the similar concepts of dramatic light, and atmosphere, based on the incredible vistas of Sedona.