For day 4 of painting month, I decided to take a half day since I have a big drive tomorrow (Point Reyes National Seashore, CA) and an even bigger drive on Sunday (Arizona). I planned to paint at Old Borges Ranch in Walnut Creek, CA.
Old Borges Ranch
Old Borges Ranch used to be a cattle ranch and is now part of Walnut Creek’s open space. There are several historic buildings, farm animals, trails, and a ranger station that can all be explored.
Initially, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to paint a closeup of a historic building, a distant scene of the ranch, or a view into the hills. After walking around the area for 30 minutes or so, I settled on a distant scene of the ranch with a composition I really liked.
I sketched out my composition, and worked mainly from the background to the foreground after I got the structures in:
What I like about my painting
I really like this composition. The ranch is the main subject and there are lots of lines leading your eye towards that.
I like the varieties of greens I was able to incorporate. This was a scene of cascading hills and greens in the foreground. It was a challenge varying the greens appropriately but I think I did a decent job of that.
What I would like to improve about my painting
The value (light/shadow) of my painting is way too dark. As you can see from the harsh shadow that my paper towel makes on my palette, the sun was shining directly on my canvas. As a result, I made all my colors way too dark.
The edges are messy which makes it hard to differentiate objects in certain places. I’d really like to have harder edges on the ranch structures so they look more architectural.
The foreground is not designed very well. I would like to remove the bushes and simplify the foreground.
Wrap up
This was a fantastic location to paint and I’d love to go back and either fix this study or make a new one. I learned a lot and had a great time.