Original artwork description:

Exploring western canyonlands throughout the Owyhees, Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, Hells Canyon, the Escalante Grand Staircase, and hopefully a few more before winter arrives, has been a theme for my travels this year.  Oil paint and the desert share many commonalities: both holding innate beauty, sometimes subtle and seductive, other times bold and vibrant. Both desert and oil paint whisper and sing with color harmonies, interesting shapes, and compositions unique to their individual settings.  No wonder one region is called the Painted Desert! In painting Complementary Colors, I allowed tones found in nature to enhance each other, playing with various hues on my palette knife to create atmospheric contrasts, as well as multiple strata in desert rocks.

Materials used:

Graham oil paints applied with palette knife and brushes

Tags:

#rock strata #oil painting #palette knife #bold #desert #grand canyon #western #canyon #subtle #complementary colors #desert southwest #color harmonies #canyonland