Sedona Day 3

Munds Mountain

12 x 18 soft pastels on Kitty Wallis Professional White

by Miki Willa

Today was not a good painting day for me. Once again, I bit off more than I could chew. These rock formations won the battle today. I suppose I could work more on this and resolve all my issues, but I fear it would all turn to mud before my very eyes. What went wrong? Many things.

First of all, I was not really grabbed by anything I saw this morning. It was all majestic and beautiful, but nothing that spoke to me and said, "Paint me!" At one point, I thought about painting a large cactus. Perhaps, I should have stuck with it.

Second, I painted with my sunglasses on without realizing it. Once I took them off, 95% of the way through the painting, I was amazed at what I was seeing. It was too late, however, to really fix anything.

Third, I simply couldn't see the values and color temperatures today. Some days are like that. I really wanted to put oranges and yellows where there was shadow. Then, I had to gray them down. The greens were far to dark and looked cartoonish. I got lost in all the shapes and forms in the rocks. The basic large shapes are correct enough that a person familiar with the area would probably recognize it, but that is about all. I could go on, but I think I have beat myself up enough for one painting. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. We are going to Jerome. That should be fun.