Weekly Painting #6 - Captain's Glow

I miss Yosemite and wanted to do a painting based on a photo that I took when we were there last winter. I have lost track of how many times I have painted El Capitan but I thoroughly enjoy it every single time. This rock is majestic and when the afternoon suns hits, the whole surrounding catches the glow of the granite. It is mesmerizing.

Here is the Captain's glow for you.



I also managed to get some iPhone shots of my work in progress.



It is a very quick painting, 1.5 hrs start to finish. Once I decide on a composition, I go alla prima and start with the paint outlines directly on canvas. I almost never sketch on canvas with pencil unless it needs geometric precision for subjects like buildings, bridges etc. I wish I had taken some more shots between the 3rd and 4th step but I got so engrossed in my painting and forgot :).

Weekly Painting #5 - Fire in the Sky

Last Thursday's sunset was spectacular. It seemed like something exploded and the whole sky was on fire. I was in a hurry to run some errands but couldn't resist getting out of the car to take some quick iPhone clicks. The colors lasted so long. There was a pink hue everywhere after sunset and it was magical. I couldn't resist painting it this week.

Here is a painting of the sunset as seen from my front yard.

Some more iPhone photos of Thursday's sunset.