Southwest Rock Formations

Inspired by the beautiful rock formations found in the southwestern United States I was led to produce this series of paintings using watercolor and pastel.  The rocks cried out for the vibrant, transparent watercolor and the surrounding and supporting areas for the opacity of pastel.

Painting #1
Predominantly watercolor, this painting could have stood alone but I chose to enhance the textures and shadows on the rock faces with pastel.  Then to create a foreground that would support and not detract from the amazing formations I again turned to pastel for a subtle suggestion of trees.

Painting #2
Her is another view rendered in watercolor.  In this painting the rock formations could stand as watercolor alone.  The reflections were all produced using pastels.  I chose pastel for the reflections because it tends to be softer and more subtle.  The subject of the painting is the rock formation, not its reflection. Therefore the rock formation needs to be strongest.

Painting #3
Soft, illusive formations emerging from the earth.  Beginning with a light value under-painting I developed this painting with lots of pastel.  The rock formations are secured with pastel in the sky and foreground areas.  I pretty much left the formations alone, allowing them to remain an emerging, mysterious surprise.

Paintings #4 and #5
My intent here was to capture the character of the formations.  Using a strong watercolor under-painting as a base I developed the rocks with pastel. I added texture and shadow with pastel to increase the strength and solid character of the rock formation.

Painting #6
In this piece I purposely altered the pallet to create a different mood and time of day: Early morning perhaps. 

It has been both and joy and challenge to work on this series of paintings.  As with every project I have learned much and experienced great pleasure.