Acrylics: Cobalt Sky Landscape

The shock of the nearly overpowering cobalt blue sky is what grabs you first when you step out of the cool four wheel drive into the stark outback wilderness.

Miles and miles of endless red dirt and cobalt blue sky.

I loved it!

 

Acrylic Landscape

The only break is the occasional outcrop of rock or escarpment with its patterned layerings of ancient sediments swirling like ribbons on the wind.

 

The heat, the flies, the wind.  Nature in her finest.

So entertaining trying to paint watercolours slapping at the flies, shaking the head, wiggling,  all the while the sun has already dried the paint on the brush – before it got put onto the paper……  Someone should have You Tubed  this.

 

So, yes, these are definitely some of the things you’ll remember, even if you’re only there trekking for a short week.

 

But the sheer beauty of the outback landforms is moving.  I found it deeply inspiring.

It touched my heart and has never let go.

 

 

Painting …. Emotion

This acrylic outback landscape painting  was done based on my 10 day outback adventure to The Flinders Ranges, South Australia several years ago.

The Flinders Ranges has a lovely assortment of hills, valleys, rockery, outcrops, stunning trees, rock pools, creek beds,  Wilpena pound.

So its not a really flat location.  However it had heat, flies, wind in abundance!

And “attitude,”   let’s not forget that.

 

 

Outback Landscapes Cobalt Sky is very much an Impressionistic painting.

The use of  the complementary colors blue and orange  help make it come to life and breathe.

I like the vertical format, as this design leads the eye up to the focal point tree.

The darker tones of the foreground also anchor and ground the image, with the lighter tones on top giving it more depth and form.

This is the style of approach that the participants of  UWA extension course Jewels of the Earth will be learning and doing.

A bolder, more confident, Impressionist style of landscape!