The Whale Watchers at Elephant Rock (14 x 20) $125

This is the head at Seal Rock Wayside park. A long ridge of basalt runs across the coast line. It creates tidal pools and spectacular waves along the beaches. At the the head it is wall defending the land from the sea. This is the view as you crest the last hill and look down on the wall barricading the head. The ridge is easy to climb and it really is a great place for whale watching.

This is my second attempt both at painting this view and at painting on hot-pressed paper. My first is in the entry below. My primary problem to begin with was poor compositional planning. The foreground came to a point almost dead center in the middle of the foreground. Last night I intended to correct the painting by sliding the point over. I found that impossible and so began the painting anew.

This time I established my darks first beginning with the outer ridge. The hot pressed-paper really does aid the creation of luminous darks. I will use it again for low key paintings.

The palate is cobalt blue, cerulean blue, phthalo blue, burnt sienna and yellow ocher. The Ridge is almost entirely grays made of of burnt sienna and the blues. Each of the blues produces a variety of interest grays and browns when mixed with sienna. I used a little yellow in the foreground cliff. I used Chinese white, cobalt blue and yellow ocher for the grass.