anza-borrego from palm canyon to font's point: about half done

"anza- borrego from palm canyon to font's point"

here are the next steps i took in painting this desert scape. the left distant mountains were too light in value so i darkened them. i put in a variegated wash from the base of the mountains/hill in the distance down to the top of the rocks and bushes in the foreground. i used various colors from raw sienna in the distance to alizarin crimson permanent mixed with a little cobalt blue near the top of the foreground structures and used most of the earth colors in between. i tried to get it to be a little more colorful and darker as i moved forward. the distant bushes and various bits of landscape were painted with a #4 round using ultramarine blue/quinacridone gold/raw sienna combinations mostly put on the paper in straight colors and allowed to mingle on the paper.  i then softened some of the edges more or less randomly. the bush on the left front foreground is ultramarine blue with quinacridone gold and burnt sienna at the bottom where i sort of negatively painted some of the branches and stems.  some of these latter were also scraped in as one can see. rock in the middle foreground painted in same combination of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. just as the sheen was coming off the paper i scraped off the top highlight leaving bits of the sienna in the hollows of the paper.  this is a new technique for me but i have seen it done to good effect and thought i would try it here.  the jury is still out on whether i will like doing this over the long haul. agave branches scraped out after the paint had just started to dry finished out this area for the time being.  i over painted the agave on the left with cerulean blue/cadmium yellow medium/oxide of chromium and then did a little more light scraping as it dried. i wish i had not left a hard edge at the site of the bush on the left front as i painted the reddish desert behind it but.....i will continuously try to remember these things next time.  well, i will let this dry and go out to play.  i need to check on the color of the ocotillo flowers while i am out as i think they may be more red-orange rather than rose-magenta.  i'll let you know.  don't succumb to the suspense in the mean time!