Turning the painting upside down was really great because it made it so much easier to paint the sky, which now is turning into a substantial and striking feature. I’ve flipped the photo to make it easier to see the painting. I’ve glazed the lower reaches of the sky as it descends to the horizon with a Ceramic White (nice bright white which is somewhat transparent, enabling delicate glazes) and a second glaze of Iron Oxide Red at the height.
While driving to the sign-painters’ store in Chatsworth yesterday with Joseph the sky turned dramatic as we ascended the Santa Suzannah Pass, which is an impressive mountainside of broken and deeply eroded stone, and we observed that the clouds grew harder edged as they receded to the horizon, which is the opposite effect to the way landscapes soften and become grayer and bluer as they get further away. Clouds that are closer to you are more wispy and less well defined.
With the the sky painted orange I turned my attention to the reflecting pool of water, popping in mirror images of the clouds above it and hinting at the mountainside. When I paint the rocks bordering the pool I must drop reflections below them onto the water.
