Progress on "Desert Hill"

Desert Hill 14 x 14

Here's where I am after a couple of days painting and staring. It's probably 95 % of the way done, the last 5 % is a lot of staring , moving around the house etc. to evaluate values and warm /cool contrast. In the hill paintings how far colors advance and recede is important to create distance.



Here's a few of the evaluation and  finishing techniques I use:


Upside down, this removes the reality of the subject and helps me look more objectively at the shapes, colors and values.

Black and white. This is a quieter painting  for me with  muted taupes and palest sage greens and  lightest blue grays, but are the values too close?

Desert Hill black and white

Generally I let paintings sit a week or two at this stage just to give myself some time for objectivity. This is why it helps to have more than one going at once.
If you scroll down one entry ,you can see the earlier stage of this painting.