Grand Canyon Misty Mountains

I recently was studying how to paint the typical misty mountain painting, as done by many masterful Chinese artists of the past and present. I have to give credit to Henri Li who teaches chinese painting on line, for the inspiration of this painting. He himself, has spent a lot of time painting the southwest of the US, and I share his passion for that part of the country. Henri has created many beautiful paintings of the Grand Canyon, and the desert of Arizona. That area of the world is my favourite place to visit for photography and painting because of the beautiful colour palette that is found there.

Chinese painting is not easy to master, and I am slowly developing my skills. The stages of making a painting involve several steps. Initially, the darks are introduced with black ink, until the brush is exhausted of ink. Then successive layers of gray are laid down by adding water to the brush, each successive layer being lighter than the previous. Colour is introduced in the same manner, from heavier washes down to light washes. One aspect that is hard to master is to be able to visualize the intensity of the colour that results after the paper has dried. The water washes of colour always fade to a lighter tone. The nice thing about that is that successive washes of transparent colour can always be added after the initial washes have dried.

The goal of this painting is to create the effect of a mist in the lower area of the canyon as well as in the far distance. I think I have succeeded in doing that.