Desert Painting

Oil on Canvas 24" x 18"

Painting of Camels approaching the pyramids and sphinx that closely based on a photo by Jovelino http://1x.com/photo/43091/ I just added the Sphinx and Pyramid to the composition and adjusted the colour palette.

I took this on as a study in levels and subtle hues. Balancing the hue shifts of the sands while retaining their levels proved quite tricky because of the incredibly small differences in the colour steps. I found that the darker levels where much more forgiving but the bright sand areas in the centre around the sphinx and pyramid required a lot of controlling the mixing. Any kind of minute colour pollution ruined the colour mix so keeping your brushes clean and the turps clean was essential. Forces you to develop good painting practices :)