This is a photo I took last September while visiting Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeastern Arizona that I’m going to paint. It will be 16″ x 20″. The bottom two fifths will look more like blocks of color than a recognizable landscape. I cropped the very bottom of the photo off because it’s just a flat rock I was standing on. The paintings I’ll begin this week will all be painted on oil primed Belgium Linen mounted on 1/4″ masonite or cradled basswood panels. The two 11″ x 14″s and one 16″ x 20″ are linen mounted on cradled basswood and the two 9″ x !2″s are linen mounted on 1/4″ masonite. Oil Primed Belgium Linen is supposed to be the best. I’ve never painted on a high quality surface. Better do it now cause life is short.
After I glue this piece of linen to the basswood I’ll stain each surface with a middle value brown. It’ll be mostly mineral spirits with a little white paint and a little burnt umber or burnt sienna paint. It’s a little easier painting onto a middle value surface than to paint onto a bright white surface. Once they are dry I’ll transfer drawings of each photo to the surfaces.