Painting the blues

Now that I have the entire painting sketched in, and my basic chuen brushstrokes and light values established, I can concentrate on the task of coloring.  

The painting pays homage to Red Cliffs, so I am dedicating the right side of the painting to the red cliffs; since that portion of the landscape is facing the audience, so making those cliffs red would be more fitting for the title.

I am going to start with the left side of the painting.  This is the shore across from the red cliffs alongside the river.  My choice of color be something along the bluish line.  In painting I am always reminded of the relationship among the different parts of the painting; how they contrast or support each other.  I am not sure if there's the concept of color wheel in classical Chinese painting and I might be out of place by saying that the application of color wheel is a strictly a western practice but I think it serves my purpose in this case.  I've not attended art school or anything, all I know is that colors on opposite sides of the color wheel are complementary color combinations and they tend to be more dramatic.  Drama is what I want in this painting!  Since I am not using a pure red I suppose I can fudge a little by not using a pure green.  I decide to use blue and green as my complimentary color to "reddish" for this part of the painting. 

I am also continuing to explore the coloring from the back of the Xuan paper method.  The paper I am using is sufficiently thin and translucent for the color to come through from the backside of the paper.  The advantage of coloring from the back is the presentation is more subdued, and it allows for more transparency for subsequent application of color on the top side.  In a way it resembles working with layers or masks in photoshop and not so much with mixing colors in a dish.

The darker areas of the red cliffs also receive a layer of blue color applied from the back of the paper.

This is how everything appears from the top side of the Xuan paper,

Red Cliffs Nostalgia IV Rowena Loop and Beyond

The remaining point of interest that I set out to include in my Red Cliffs painting is the Rowena Loop.  It is located at a circular lookout atop a ridge somewhere between the towns of Mosier and The Dalles, about an hour's drive east from the city of Portland.  The lookout is a perfect vista for the Gorge on one side, especially in the Spring time when flanked by a carpet of wild flowers; and a stretch of a couple of needle loops on the back side.  It is fun to watch cyclists laboring up in their low gears, and sports cars downshifting at the bends, looking to carve a perfect line up the hill; only to be foiled by the procession of cyclists.  Everybody who comes up this route eventually has to show their face at the Loop lookout, and people who have been watching the drama on top gets to place a face to the unsuspecting  motorists/cyclists.  

Just like the Vista House portion of the painting, I am painting the serpentine road and the circular vista much bigger than they really are.  Here however, drama is aided by the steroid-fed scale of the landmarks.

Brush wash is used to create the faint suggestion of mountain range of beyond, to help frame the enclosure of the river gorge.  The ample void spaces help to create separation, thus depth and also helps to eschew too much details about the distant landscape.  It gives the painting breathing room, as we might say.

A few nonchalant dots with the brush wash on the top side of the brushstrokes give the impression of vegetation growing; without having to give details.

With my 4 main areas of interest all painted in, here is a first look at the flesh and sinew of my Nostalgia piece, being built on the skeleton of the Columbia River Gorge:

Red Cliffs Nostalgia III Multnomah Falls

 

The Multnomah Falls in a little ways east of the Vista House, situated in the Falls area of the Gorge.

If one takes the route of Old Columbia River Highway one would encounter 5 or 6 waterfalls within walking distance to the roadside.  Multnomah Falls is the most famous and has its own dedicated huge parking lot to accommodate the flow of tourists.  I am placing this Fall right next to the shoreline to add drama to the composition and I am retaining the pedestrian bridge which spans across the Falls as a badge of authenticity of my misplaced landmark.  

Darker values are placed on the bordering rock faces of the falls to make the water stand out.  The water shall be represented by the void space.

The shoreline is addressed with a wash of different intensities using side-tip brushstrokes.  Additions of trees helps with the realization that this might be sandspits situated at the base of the hills.