Sunsets

Everyone loves watching the sun set, I think. The colors of the sky are always gorgeous. So when I wanted to try out a split-complementary color scheme using blue, yellow orange, and red orange, images of the setting sun quickly came to mind.

I based this sunset painting on an exercise in a watercolor book by Matthew Palmer. My colors are quite different from his, but overall, I think it worked. My castle overlooking the sea isn’t great, but I really love my sky and the sun dipping down toward the horizon.

I was a little more careful than usual, and I did let the painting dry before I added the rocky cliffs. My one little miscue came when, after mixing my paints, I didn’t get my brush completely clean. You’ll see a few little reddish streaks in the sky above the castle, but I’m just going to overlook them. For a color practice painting, I’m very pleased with how it turned out.

The colors I used were cerulean blue, gamboge, and scarlet lake, mixing my red orange and yellow orange, and also adding in a tiny bit of Payne’s gray in places.

Now, I’ll move on to another analogous color scheme and paint a new landscape. I think I’ll also spend a little time painting more sunsets, too.