Early morning sunrise

I was fortunate to photograph the morning sun as its strikingly brilliant rays slowly peeked up behind the dark landscape during my early morning walk. The rising sun had not yet reached the top of the distant tree tops to cast its light onto the fields and foliage. The dark shapes against the stark light was striking and I couldn’t let the scene escape my memory, the reason for capturing it with my camera.

This morning, I picked the same scene from my collection of photos and decided it would be a challenge to paint it with my oil pastels which are much more forgiving than the watercolors, my normal use for sketches. Each time I paint with the pastels is a total experiment in learning with usage, spreading, mixing colors and values.

Early morning sun rays on Maxwelton valley

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