Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon?  If you have, you probably remember how vast and spectacular it is.  It seems to go on forever and ever.  There are large cliffs so far away that they appear to be tiny, yet we know they are not.

In this video, Bill is going to paint the distant side of the canyon.  Notice how little pressure he uses as he adds color.  He uses a small amount of paint and very little pressure.

Points To Consider:

• He is painting on a wet canvas.
• At a distance our eyes can’t see many colors.  We see blues and violets but nothing too bright.  Because of the atmosphere between the objects and our eyes, things appear hazy and muted in color.  This is what Bill is referring to when he talks about mixing a “far away” color.
• In the distance objects appear very vertical and horizontal.  The detail doesn’t show up.
• Bill is careful not to over-mix his colors.
• Notice Bill added the sky color to the cliff color.  The color in the sky will appear throughout the painting.
• The light is coming from the right so Bill adds highlights on the right side of the peaks. Though he wanted bright color for the highlights, he added the cliff base color to his highlights.  Again, to keep harmony throughout his painting.
• He varies the heights of the distant cliffs but not by very much.  This gives the illusion that the cliffs are far, far away.
• Bill paints the cliffs larger as he comes towards the viewer.  The colors will be stronger as well.

It was a joy to be in nature with Bill.  When we had seminars at a beautiful state park in Oregon it would be common to find Bill outside studying what he saw.  He was fascinated with Mother Nature and felt most at home in her presence.  Do you feel that way too?

Happy Painting!

Laurie and Dawn

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