Above the Morning Mist

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1612

“Above the Morning Mist”

(Oregon Coast Range)

Oil Sketch on Panelli Tellati Linen Panel

6" x 8"

Again early morning mist in the valleys, but not as marvelous as here depicted, which is based on the second morning here at this campsite, last week (6^th July).  During breakfast I kept noticing the local wildlife, and at one point I said to myself, Everybody’s coming out today, when I realized just that; this happened three mornings during the couple of weeks I camped here.  Some days you notice this bird and that bird, this chipmunk and that rabbit, and so on, but not all of these creatures every day, but then, as today, it seems that all the different species you have seen all appear over a short period of time, and you wonder where they and what were they doing on those days that only a few made their appearance.  This serves as a reminder that spending time in one place is well worthwhile, for you become familiar with the plants and animals and even the insects on your patch … and they become familiar with you.

Wednesday (13^th July) and the next day were spent leisurely working away on this work, using my sketchbook drawing as a reference, as well as the actual landscape, and trees before me, and also referring occasionally to the photos of the misty morning I had taken the week before.  All this was necessary since I had constructed the landscape from the reality, by selecting and moving the various trees around to form the composition.  Although I was painting in the Plein Aire I don’t consider this a Plein Aire work, more of a studio painting happened to be painted in the Plein Aire.  The same palette was used for this painting as for the last painting.

Imprimatura: Vasari Terra Rosa.

Drawing/Block-in: Terra Rosa and Ultramarine Blue Deep.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Cyprus Raw Umber Deep, Cyprus Warm Burnt Umber; Winsor & Newton Cobalt, Cerulean & Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmium Yellow Pale (not a lot) Permanent Rose (just a tad for the couple of Foxgloves) & Cremnitz White; M. Graham Hansa Yellow Pale.

Beethoven in the Coast Range

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1613

“Foxgloves in the Coast Range”

(Oregon Coast Range)

Oil Sketch on Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel

5" x 7"

If you have not listened to Beethoven’s Ninth, while having breakfast on the end of a ridge after a 36 hour rain, and while watching the mist in the valleys below rising to join the cloud not far above you, and with spears of sunlight breaking through, now and again, to light patches of far hillside, feebly at first, then with increasing frequency, and promising a final clearing to come soon … you have not lived.  Even though I often listen to Classical Music Public Radio here in the States, and Radio 3, when in Britain, I never had much of a Classical Music Album/Cassette/CD collection.  That changed over this past Winter, when I had a brainstorm.  I began to finger through the CD shelves at Goodwill and used my Christmas money from my sisters to begin my Classical Music Collection, at less than $2 per CD!  The bonus is that at that price you can afford to make the odd mistake, though I rarely have, and they are usually to be found in excellent condition … Classical Music listeners seem to take care of their CDs better than any other music listeners.  I have saved them all on my PC, then transferred them to a dedicated exterior hard-drive, as well as backed them up on further hard-drives during my normal backups, all in WAVE formats.  I have further copied the collection to my Tablet, which automatically converts them to MP3 format, so I can easily listen when it is not convenient to break out the PC.

Monday the 11^th of July was such a day, and when breakfast and Beethoven had finished, and the day had cleared sufficiently to set up the Solar Array, I set up to paint.  I was going to paint an Oil of my sketchbook drawing of the day before, and I proceeded far enough to cover the panel in an imprimatura, and draw in the composition, but I was taken with the way the light was falling onto a patch of grass and foxgloves set against the dark of the forest beyond, so I quickly set to work on the new panel, and the result is that shown above.  The Forest was so enjoyable that I realized by this time that I would not be going down to paint the coast at Bandon, as I usually do.  I needed this woodland sojourn, after spending so much time in town, over the past year, on the commissioned works I have previously mentioned. 

As usual, I am mentioning the pigment used, and you will see that I have used two bright yellows, as well as my old favorite Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre.  The Hansa Yellow Light is, for me, a new colour added to my palette this past Spring.  When reading about other Artist’s palettes, I often have seen this Yellow mentioned.  I have not always been happy with the denseness of some of my mixed greens using the Cadmiums, and decided to give Hansa Yellow a try.  Mixed with Cerulean it gives me the bright greens I was looking for, and it also gives creditable greens when mixed with other blues as well.  The Greens found in Nature are many and varied, and Hansa Yellow adds another tool to further master this variability in my work.

Imprimatura: Vasari Terra Rosa.

Drawing/Block-in: Ultramarine Blue Deep.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Cyprus Raw Umber Deep, Cyprus Warm Burnt Umber; Winsor & Newton Cobalt, Cerulean & Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmium Yellow Pale (not a lot) Permanent Rose & Cremnitz White; M. Graham Hansa Yellow Pale.

Morning Mist in the Coast Range

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

Sketchbook Drawing 20160707 Pg-57

"Morning Mist"

(Oregon Coast Range)

Sepia & Walnut Ink Drawing with Washes

on Fabriano Ingres 160 gsm paper bound in  Sketchbook

7" x 10”

During the previous days when I was working on the “Haynes Inlet” Oil, and enjoying watching the natural world surrounding me, I also went through my photographs of the, now daily, morning mists.  I chose several to work on in Photoshop.  This was also a time to really give my Suitcase Solar array a good workout.  I had purchased this some time ago, but had not had the chance to really give it a thorough testing.  I set it up outside the truck, ran 45 feet of cable to my Full-River AGM Deep-Cycle Battery nestling in the footwell of the front passenger seat, to keep that battery recharging while I worked on my PC.  With that length of cable my SUV and I were able to remain cool in the shade, while the solar array soaked up the sunlight.  I had built a plywood box to house my battery, and within the same box I had installed two 12-Volt DC sockets and a Tri-Metric meter to keep an eye on the state of the battery charge.  This meter is really essential to keep from abusing a very expensive battery.  This set up seems to be able to meet my electrical needs, which are my PC, tablet and phone, and also provides a backup in case I inadvertently rundown my auto battery while stationery in a campsite for an extended period.  Of course I cannot be profligate with my uses, as my power reservoir is not unlimited, and there are cloudy days.  I have digressed from my Photoshop work.  Once I got the photographs worked up I duplicated them and saved them as JPEGs, and transferred copies to my tablet via Bluetooth. 

As I was finishing up after supper on Thursday, July 7^th, the clear and beautifully pristine weather looked to be at an end, for as the sun settled over the horizon, low clouds began to stream in from the WNW.  Singly at first and then in clumps, some grazing the hilltops, not sure whether they wanted to be clouds or rising mist; perhaps it was sea-mist that had risen to become cloud.  There was still sky showing between and even stars later on between these rapidly moving watery shrouds, but the previous promise of another wonderful starry evening had disappeared within half an hour.  And during the night I awoke to a light rain pattering atop my roof. 

It was a different kind of beauty in the morning, as clumps of mist rose out of the valleys to join with the low overcast above.  Showers came and went.  I took the photos of the misty mornings of the previous few days I had worked on, and between them I lightly composed the structure of a drawing in my large sketchbook, of light blue Fabriano Ingres paper.  This was a first for working in my outdoor sketchbooks, as normally I am drawing the scene before me.  And I still was to a certain extent, since the various foreground trees in the composition were before me for reference, even though I had rearranged them to make a drawing … just a reminder, that drawing and painting is not reportage, but to make Art.  Those familiar with my work, especially my quite detailed Watercolours, may think that they look photographic, but there have always been decisions made as to composition, and tone and colour.  Usually not so much in the sketchbooks, as they are mostly used for information gathering, but in the above drawing, the rearranging of the elements were necessary to best convey that information I wished to gather.

After I set down the structure of pencil lines, I headed for town and the Artists’ Preview at the Museum.  Nice to see acquaintances, at the opening, and concentrate on a few people close by at the wonderful meal at Puerto Vallarta Mexican Restaurant, over the road from the Museum.  I had the shrimp wrapped in bacon with rice, beans etc.; I discovered this dish here two years ago, and have since not been able to go for something different, at this event.  Back to camp, and then the next day back down for the general preview and wonderful dinner within the exhibition space itself.  This is when the aforementioned auction took place, and the little Oil, which I contributed for this event, sold.  After the festivities, it was back to my campsite, and the intermittent rain of the day settled in for the next 36 hours with only a couple of breaks long enough for me to do some water heating and cooking.  This was the perfect situation to continue on and finish with the above sketch.  Incidentally, I have dated it for the day I took the main recon photos.  My drawing implements consist of various pencils, mostly mechanical, Conté Crayons, Creta-colour chalks, Walnut Ink, Sepia Acrylic Ink, Roberson Kolinsky Sable brushes [whose handles unscrew to become protective caps … I got mine years and years ago at Cornelissen & Son on Great Russell St. in London], various dip pen nibs [of Japanese, American, and English manufacture], and their handles,  and the following tin of Watercolour pans & half-pans: Rowney Warm Sepia, W&N Sepia, W&N Burnt Umber, Light Red, Burnt Sienna, Naples Yellow, Cobalt Blue, Scarlet Vermilion, Cobalt Blue, Chinese & Titanium Whites.  This is a severe selection of Watercolours, but I mainly am intent on producing “Sepia” wash drawings, on toned paper, heightened with white.

Beginning a Coast Range Idyll

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1611

"On Haynes Inlet"

(Coos Bay, Oregon Coast)

Oil Sketch on Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel

4" x 6

It has taken me awhile to get back into the swing of things, as far as posting to my blog is concerned, and it will be a slow, but I hope fairly steady renaissance … as it were.  The Annual Coos Art Museum Maritime Show opened on the ninth of July, and I was in attendance for both the Artists’ Preview and the Private View the next evening.  I left town at 22:00 on the 3^rd, and travelled down to one of my secret clearings in the forested Coast Range near Heceta Head, spending the night and leisurely proceeding on towards Coos Bay the next day.  I went up into the Coast Range NE of Coos Bay watched the 4^th of July fireworks from 15 miles away, or at least those that shot high enough to be seen above the intervening hills … binoculars were de rigueur.  Always nice to see them from a distance, avoiding crowds and the noise; my own private display.  Found the forest road I camped on last year, and on which I painted the work seen here, which is now in the Earthworks Gallery, in Yachats, Oregon.  The next day I toddled on down to the Museum and delivered my two small works for the coming show, topped off my supplies, petrol, etc. and did a bit of recon on the way back to my chosen Forest Road campsite.  After a leisurely supper, and a bit of star gazing, it was off to bed; sooooo nice to be back in the Wild. 

Up bright and early the next morning, I fully intended to get the above painting done for Saturday’s Auction in support of the Museum, but the beauty of the Wild intervened and I spent most of the day just watching unfold around me and … enfold me.  After the months spent in a windowless studio completing the commission, mentioned recently, I needed to just drink in silence.  As I arose that first morning the valleys, below the ridge on which I was camped, were filled with mist … I was above a sea of fog … a view I have wanted to see for ages.  Between recon photos and observations, I breakfasted, and by the time I finished my morning coffee most of the mists had cleared from the valleys, only hanging on for awhile in those closer to the coast.  And then it was watching the birdlife, the occasional rabbit, the resident chipmunks, and Bambi and his/her Mom grazed down the road, much as a previous generation had last year.

Late in the day I finally dug out the paint box, studied the pencil drawing I had done the previous afternoon on my way back from delivery, laid down an imprimatura on the canvas panel and applied the brush drawing.  I let this dry overnight and the next day set to it again, but with no real hurry, as my “Nature-watch” continued.  On the third day, I touched up a couple of places, and inserted the heron, and threw it into its frame, ready for the auction, completely forgetting to photograph it before doing so; thus the framed photos above.  Three days of beautiful clear skies, warm but not hot temperatures … the way I like it.  Ahhhhh!  Nice!

Oh yeah … and by the way … the above Oil of Haynes Inlet did sell at the auction.

Summer Winds

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1599

"A Light in the Storm"

(Oregon Coast)

Oil on Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel

with additional Coat of Williamsburg Lead Ground

5" x 7"

Click here to make this your Own

Weather-wise I could have well stayed up in the Coast Range, as when I finally arrived in Bandon, six days after my intention to be there, I could see the usual Summer winds were up.  If you were following these postings from their inception last Summer, you might remember that on this central & southern Oregon Coast the winds in Summer are usually strong, from the north (and therefore cold), and fairly incessant.  Thus they were upon my arrival late in the day after I had left my charming forest road campsite high in the Oregon Coast Range, and toddled into Bandon.  The next day, however, they had dissipated, but a dull overcast had set in.  This would normally not have prevented my painting on the shore, but once down on the beach, and while looking for a spot to paint, I noticed that the sands had shifted from what they had been last Summer … deeper and therefore the low tide was further out past sea-stacks that I had never been able to walk around on past visits to Bandon.  Considering the bland lighting of the overcast, and this new configuration of the sands, I decided to concentrate taking photographs and making pencil sketches in my pocket sketchbook.  The Oil Painting above was done from one of my drawings in that sketchbook, and is shown below.

While rapidly jotting down this pencil sketch, I had in mind that I would use it as the basis for a dramatic storm with crashing waves.  This is the type of drawing I consider as informational note taking, as are many of the drawings in this pocket sketchbook.  This is one of those sketchbooks where I had cut and folded the paper into sections and then had a professional bookbinder in Cornwall, England bind it together; I had about twenty of various sizes bound at the same time, eleven years ago.  Not cheap but now I have sketchbooks bound with the various papers (some handmade), that I most enjoy working on.  This is a Fabriano Ingres paper, 160 gsm in weight; I love the way a laid* paper takes the graphite, when drawing.  The day after the drawing was done I worked up the Oil Sketch from my Pencil Sketch, as the cloud cover continued and the wind came up again … the Sun did come out later … still breezy.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

Block-in: French Ultramarine.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt & French Ultramarine Blues, Venetian Red, and Cremnitz & Titanium Whites.

* A laid paper is one where you can see the laid lines (the close parallel lines), and the chain lines (parallel lines wider spaced and 90 degrees to the laid lines), indented in the paper, from the screen used during the paper making process.  A wove paper does not have these lines and is what you find as the surface of normal writing or printing paper.

Forest Road in the Coast Range

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1598

"Forest Road in the Coast Range"

(Oregon)

Oil on Ampersand Gesso Panel

5" x 7"

Click here to make this your Own

I moved camp a further five miles into the Oregon Coast Range onto a spur a half mile onto a side road.  Again I had views of the open sky and forested slopes from here, although these are a little behind me in the opposite direction as seen in this painting of the forest road.  The previous campsite was directly on the main forest road, and though sparse there was occasional traffic passing by.  This new campsite is a bit more secluded, and the three days & nights I stayed here only one vehicle appeared up where the road disappears in the painting, just as the sun was sinking below the horizon.  It reversed and no doubt found some other place to set up camp.  I am always on the lookout for the chance to capture a forest road in paint; all too often there is no place to set up and paint, but this was one of the good ones, where I could camp and paint.  The deer came browsing along while in the midst of my working on this, so I dabbed them in.  Actually there was only one, but I preferred there to be two (painters can do this, since we are Artists, and not reporters … we move things around, for example rocks or trees, and might selectively eliminate something altogether ... or put something in that was not there).  To watch her slowly strolling down the road, browsing on the vegetation along the verge, was enjoyable … and peaceful.  She came about as far as is depicted in the painting, and then decided that she wasn’t sure about what the obstruction in the road ahead was all about, and after studying me for awhile, she slowly reversed direction and browsed back up the lane.  I never moved so as not to frighten her, and so she never bolted, just decided that wariness was the better part of valor.  I’m always surprised how large their ears are … almost Mickey Mouse ears.  I love days like this.

I had to work on this on two consecutive days.  I tend to forget how slippery the paint is on these gesso panels if I haven’t previously applied a layer of lead ground, or if I don’t use an Alkyd Medium in the early stages, so that later in the process the paint will grab a bit more.  I got so far on what I might call and underpainting or a block-in on the first day, and packed it in until the next day when that first layer gripped the ensuing brush strokes a bit more, and thus more pleasing to work with.  The deer appeared during this second day.  I could have stayed longer at this campsite, but I thought I had better get on down to Bandon, and see what I might find on the coast … also I had emailed my friends and told them I probably would turn up to camp on their property six days earlier … it was time I made an appearance down there.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt, Cerulean & French Ultramarine Blues, Venetian Red, and Cremnitz & Titanium Whites.  The brighter greens are again a mixture of Yellow Ochre and Cerulean Blue … no Cadmiums used in the greens except for the touches of yellow flowers.

Early Morning in the Coast Range

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1596

"Early Morning in the Coast Range"

(Oregon)

Oil on Raymar Portrait Quality Linen Panel

6" x 8"

Click here to make this your Own

And the mists gathered in the valleys and folds of the Oregon Coast Range and rolled over the high ridges as the sun arose in the northeast.  Another beautiful morning and I stayed put and worked on this painting on the 4^th of July, attempting to capture the feel of what I had seen for two consecutive mornings.  There were elk feeding in the valley immediately below, although to see them I had to walk past the stump on the left in this painting and look over the edge; I doubt they remained there during the day … wouldn't know ... I was busy painting. 

The fireworks I had seen on the evening of the 3^rd were observed in the saddle of the far ridge.  I was surprised by another display the evening of the 4^th, when they appeared to the left of the left-hand hill of the far ridge saddle.  I found out later in the week, when I attended the private view of the Coos Art Museum Maritime Show, that one evening the fireworks were at the casino and the other evening on the harbour front at Coos Bay.  Again, being nine or ten miles away, they were perfect through my binoculars, after a fine leisurely meal and interspersed with watching Venus & Jupiter sliding into the west and the Moon rising in the east.

You might think that in this painting I may have used a split palette as mentioned in the previous post of the Evening in the Coast Range, but no … it is my usual palette of earth pigments and the blues; it shows what can be done with coloured muds.  Of course the foxgloves and yellow flowers are dabbed in with the brighter pigments (W& N Cobalt Violet, Rose Madder Genuine, Cadmium Yellow Pale), but since they are incidentals to the main body of the painting, I don’t list them in my pigments information below.  Incidentally, even though I posted the Evening in the Coast Range before this painting, I actually did that one a day later … It took awhile for my signature to dry on this one before I could scan it. 

Imprimatura: Venetian Red, over the whole surface, not only where the ground is as I did in the last posted work.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt, Cerulean & French Ultramarine Blues, Venetian Red, and Cremnitz & Titanium Whites.

Evening in the Coast Range

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1597

"Evening in the Coast Range"

(Oregon)

Oil on RayMar Portrait Quality Linen Panel

6" x 8"

Click here to make this your Own

At the beginning of July I downed tools on the two large commissioned Oils I’ve been working on and headed down to the coast to deliver the three paintings that are included in the Coos Art Museum 22^nd Annual Maritime Show (here).  I usually camp on private property outside of Bandon, 25 miles further on than is Coos Bay, but as I approached Coos Bay, I decided there was no point in going further, just to retrace my steps in the morning to make my delivery; thus I headed up into the Coast Range and found a likely spot a few miles in.  After supper I enjoyed the Sunset, and later in the gloaming I watched Venus and Jupiter sinking into the west, while the full Moon rose to my left in the east, and a few bats flitted about enjoying their insectoid suppers.  I had been much taken by the evening colours as the sun fell through the trees and especially after it had set, so I thought I might delay my week of painting on the Bandon Coast, and return up here in the Coast Range to paint after I delivered the paintings to the Coos Art Museum.  Watching the mist rising in the valleys in the morning confirmed my decision.

I drove a roundabout route to the Museum, via Silver & Golden Falls State Park, as I had never been there before, although I had thought about it from time to time; well worth it, even though one has to walk further these days to view the two falls, since one must park much further away nowadays.  Silver & Golden Falls are not easily photographed, but I managed to get enough working shots, for future reference.  The views I would most like to paint are also footpath blocking spaces, so I will have to work from photos for these at some point; there would be several places to paint sections of the base of the falls, and maybe I will sometime.  I had to do some desperate bushwhacking scrambles around Golden Falls to get some of views I photographed, but that is many times de rigueur in my game, both for taking reference photos and for painting.  There will come a time when I will not be able to do this … but not yet.

After dropping off the works, in Coos Bay (the town), I drove back north through North Bend (not Bend across the Cascades in the High Desert 200 miles distant), and across Coos Bay (the water) over the big bridge, turned right onto North Bay Road, and before again turning right and heading back on the forest roads into the mountains, I stopped to take a few photos of North Bay in the late afternoon light; North Bay is an arm of Coos Bay.  I enjoyed another evening similar to the night before, but this time I got to see distant fireworks through a notch in the hills across the valley.  This was quite unexpected as it was only the 3^rd of July, but I enjoyed the display, and they were seen best through my binoculars, and heard a lot of their thunder, even though they were about 9 or 10 miles distant.  Of course I only saw those that were shot into the sky, but I always prefer those to any those that are at ground level anyway.

With this painting I used a split palette, painting the evening sky with the more modern and brighter colours and darkened ground vegetation with the earth palette I’ve been using most of this past year.  I also applied my imprimatura only to the lower half of the panel, thus reserving the white of the ground to reflect the brighter pigments used in the evening sky.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used in the sky were: Winsor & Newton Cerulean & Cobalt Blues, Cadmiums Yellow Pale, Orange, & Red, Rose Madder Genuine, Cremnitz and Titanium Whites, and a bit of Venetian Red to mix with Cobalt Blue for the subtle pale purply greys in the clouds.

And for the ground Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt & French Ultramarine Blues, Venetian Red, and Cremnitz White were the usual suspects.