"Twilight" 12" x 24"
This is a studio painting based on some photos I took in Fredericksburg, TX. My wife and I left our boys at the hotel and went off for an adventure. The sun was disappearing right before my eyes, but I managed to snap a couple photos before it was gone. I don't have a lot of experience painting this large or painting from photographs, so this was a challenge. My camera was set on "night photo" and I realized this brightened my pictures and almost made them look like they were taken during the day, so the biggest challenge I had was working from photos without any accurate color. I am also accustomed to painting fast, so I tried very hard to take this slowly. I have mixed feelings about the final work. I'm not sure how much better this version is than the night I first blocked it all in. I think this painting has less paint than my plein air work, even though I painted on it on several different occasions. I think I became cautious and didn't want to cover up all of my previous work. Is this common for all studio painters?
I'm very happy with the method I painted my sun. I simply painted it solid white and after it dried completely I dry brushed yellow on top of the white. I think this made a brighter sun than any solid yellow I could have mixed.
What do you think? I need some input.
