Windy Hill & Cypress Hill Sunsets - Day Thirteen of the 30/30 Challenge

Windy Hill Sunset, Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, 2015 #15

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Day thirteen of the challenge -- this one is a little test of compositional elements for a larger piece. I really wanted to do a sunset scene today and used a combination of primary color palette -- Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow and Ultramarine Blue for the sky and clouds. Since the composition is overly horizontal, I tried to experiment with different elements of diagonal movements. In the first one I tried to add back-lid barren deciduous trees; in the second version I used wind-blown cypress trees, since I was working on a larger sheet of paper, and had more room to play with shapes:

Cypress Hill Sunset, Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 8"h x 11"w, 2015 #16

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I am quite happy with both version and think that I may go with the second concept on the bigger piece. But I may play with the composition just a bit more... We'll see!

While You are Gone - Day Six of the 30/30 Challenge

While You are Gone (Plein Air at Rodeo Beach), 

Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, 2015 #8

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Day six of the challenge started as a plein air piece at the Rodeo Beach of Marin last month. It was an overcast day and the wind was blowing incessantly. The water at Rodeo Lagoon takes the same somber turquoise-grey tone as the sky. I really want to capture the feeling of the wind ravaging through shoreline vegetation, and its power shaping the land, the water and the growth. I was not exactly happy when it started to drizzle before I was able to finish, but sometimes having a little distance in the studio to complete a piece like this is not bad -- I was able to spot some major composition mistakes such as there is not enough value difference between the foreground bluff and the one behind it to saperate them, and the value of the bluff itself was too light, making it indistinguishable from foreground sand beach. So, here it is, a plein air piece finished in the studio. I hope I have not lost all its freshness... What do you think, my friends?