I decided to simplify and work on making things looser. I watched a marvelous YouTube series by landscape painter Stuart Davies in the UK where he created landscapes with a minimum of colors. I picked up a few larger brushes to try out some of his broad sweeping strokes and plopped down four colors: payne’s grey, cadmium red, titanium white, and a dark green. (Honestly, I’m not sure what the green is called. I accidentally poked a hole in the tube and when I taped it up tight to stop it from leaking, I permanantly taped over the name of the color.)
Turns out, it’s amazing to mix these for variations on browns, greens and light greys. The mess of paint I had applied began to take shape, and a monsoon season runoff near Sedona, where my mother lives, appeared before my eyes. So I ran with it.
So I tried again, taking out the water and putting together a slightly different view.
The next study came without using brushes and instead working with cold wax medium and paint scrapers to get the finished product. I think it has more pop.
And again, I changed up the scene to something on less mountainous terrain.
I like that there’s a lot going on here, and I added just a bit of blue to my color mix to brighten up the sky and a tad of sap green. Honestly, I think I like the simpler palette more, but I like using Stuart Davies’ method of wiping things off as I go along. It allows for a lot of creative freedom because you can dab off/wipe off/destroy anything that looks wrong.
Lastly, I moved firmly into more flatland and came up with this:
This used more medium for a more watercolor look, although it’s still the same basic oil paints: payne’s grey, cadmium red, titanium white, and dark green.
All of these might well reflect that fact that most of us in the U.S. and other parts of the world are stuck inside for the time being, as Covid-19 has us on quarantine or lockdown to stop the spread of the virus. I’m off to do more painting today once I finish my other work, and see how long I can make my supplies last while we’re blessed with the time to create.