Potomac Gorge, Early October

I did this 20 x 24 painting over the course of our open studios weekend, which began on Friday night and ended Sunday afternoon. I finished it in the studio today. It was a VERY busy weekend (I’m happy to say!). I began with a charcoal wash, which was very useful in setting the overall shapes and placement of the rocks and tree shapes. I then moved on to hard pastels, using pretty much local color, as this was a fairly complicated picture. The addition of alcohol darkened the shapes and solidified them. I then worked primarily with Giraults for a first pass of color and went back with some softer pastels and more Giraults. I began the rocks with a dark blue violet, which was too prevalent. Today, I used grayed violets and browns to lighten and diversify them. I also added dark blue violet into the trees and added some of the blue from the background land shape to the rocks and foliage on the left. Yesterday we went back to this site and it was altogether different, being a month or so later. The water was much lower and darker and there were no greens. I may do another vertical picture from the same vantage point. I decided that what I was seeing yesterday could not be integrated into this painting, given the month difference in foliage and water levels. I changed the background piece of land by simplifying it and making it much bluer than it was in the photo. This is an oxbow of the Potomac, visible from the C&O Canal towpath at Great Falls, MD. It’s a very popular site. Yesterday, being beautiful and a federal holiday, it was mobbed! It was fun doing it and explaining the process to so many people who visited the studio over the weekend.