Solid or not, Battenkill @ Battenville;Day 1

67  F  sunny and beautiful!!!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/MattChinianPaintings

When I went out today I wanted it all.  The day was (and is!) absolutely gorgeous! Clear skies, sunlight illuminating yellow leaves, nice dark shadows, I could go out my back door for that, but I wanted something else, a man-made item and a river.

This is a fishing spot, and I've seen lots of people fishing here. I used the complete hike in kit. I wanted to find a spot  opposite the sun. This scene poses some difficulties, looking through the trestle, the autumnal foliage and branches to see the far hills and sky, make layers and veils of stuff!

Here is the first block in. The steel bridge poses some difficulty, I wanted to get the drawing of it right at the start, but allow myself lee way to back fill around it.

Here it is after about an hour or so, I have most of the panel covered and just about everything is in play. I'm afraid the grey of the far hill is a bit flat, but overall I like the composition.

Here is where I ended up @ 2:00 after 2 hours, the light was beginning to hit the far hill and make everything crazy, so I stopped here. This pic is washed out, but I defiantly need to go into this some more.

Ollie came today, and it took him a while to settle down.

Here is my spot, it's a bit tricky to find a place for the easel and my stool, but I can't stand and work here so it's very awkward, I'm always wondering if I'll slide into the river, or loose the panel!

This is my pallet, I've settled into my colors and feel good about them. I'm using phalo blue which is very strong, but worls well in the sky (when properly moderated)  One of my reds is burnt sienna, and mixed with ultramarine blue make a real workable black.