October 5, 2010

I am still recovering from a sick spell, but spent more time today working on El Capitan than I have any day yet. At this stage, the painting becomes more fun as the highlights are starting to develop and the painting is taking on a finished look. You can probably tell from the photos below that a lot of progress was made. I worked the cliffs to the right just in front of El Capitan, more of the valley floor, and sketched in the Merced River as it flows through Yosemite Valley.

I also started some of the foreground cliffs. After some thought, I decided to lower the forground cliff where it is much less pronounced. I did this as the previous sketch boxed the viewer in. I want the eye to follow the cliff right into the middle distance and right to the light on El Capitan.

The quick snapshots I take while the painting is on the easel really wash out a lot of color, particularly the sky, where most of the grey you see is actually a bluish purple.

Below is a closeup of the right hand cliffs which show the actual color and values a little more accurately–

My goal is to get this painting about 95% complete this week. If I continue at today’s pace, I should make it!