Eliot's Art Blog

This is a recap of the seventeenth day of my self-made artist residency.

For day 17, I planned to spend the day in Benicia, CA, painting the bay views along the shoreline. Unfortunately, while driving up there, visibility dropped steeply when I started approaching the area with surrounding fog in every direction. After consulting satellite photos, it seemed to just be affecting that small region:

After searching for backup locations, I finally landed on attempting another Mt Diablo painting from Clayton, CA.

Donner Canyon at Mt. Diablo State Park

I had hiked this area before and really enjoyed some of the views so I decided to hike in and see what inspired me.

After a quarter mile hike in, I found this view and decided I would give it a go:

Despite the composition being interesting and the variety of colors, I struggled to get into painting. I pushed through for a while but eventually decided I would leave with my color notes and finish the painting in the studio at a later time:

One thought in looking at this after getting home is that it would likely be a more interesting painting if I remove the focus from the central tree and leave it on the distant mountains. When continuing that in the studio, I may give that a try. To be continued…