"Bridge at Arroyo Hondo"

"Bridge at Arroyo Hondo" - Oil - 12" x 16" - SOLD

"Popular with outdoorsmen and artists, Arroyo Hondo is wonderfully picturesque. As the light changes during the day, there are countless subjects for the outdoor artist."." --- SFG

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Work in progress...

This painting of will be of Arroyo Hondo showing the water in the foreground and the bridge I crossed to get there. The background slope will be to to right and the orange bluff in shadow falls to the left.

My drawing is simple, defining the upright and horizontal planes and the angles of the primary edges.

As my second painting of the day, I'm taking a broader, faster approach to it. I won't be so deliberate, letting my subconscious work more than I did in the morning painting, "Morning Magic." Awareness is important as you learn to work. For me, there is a distinction between paintings that work best because I've been more deliberate and careful, as you saw in the painting described in the previous post, and the ones that I let my subconscious take over. They are usually the second or third alla prima painting of the day and often it is the best one. The subconsious is most capable of juggling all the elements necessary in painting. Call it muscle memory, if you could call the brain a muscle.

When you premix colors, as I did earlier today, it sometimes feels like using pastels, because you simply dip right into the correct color with a fresh or freshly wiped brush. All of the colors are better related to each other...especially if you use a bit of the previously mixed pile to start the next one.

By the time I get to this point, I'm to the stage of adjusting the painting, often by simplifying. I changed the direction of the brushstrokes following the contours of the background hill.