Two days of cloudy/foggy weather in Big Sur (CA) gave me chance to relax a bit.  The sky cleared completely on my last day, so I was able to get a couple done on my way to the paint-out at Hearst Castle.

Getting a great block-in is really important.  To me, that means a great design, division of space, interesting shapes, etc.  I liked this one enough to photograph. Cool, huh?

And here’s the finished painting, or “near finished”.  I think the rocks are a bit too warm/red (and actually, my camera over-saturates reds), so what you’re seeing is redder than you see here. The rocks are granite, with other reddish tones, so a blue-ish violet should improve it.

I started the day with this quick study to warm up.  For small studies like these, I look for an opportunity to represent both the shadow and light side in each element.  Here, was able to do light/shade for almost all elements in the painting.