Have you ever pulled over onto the side of the road because the sunset was so epic, you had to stop and take a picture? 

 
This was one of those sunsets!  In fact, this is only one of the many compositions I have of this one. 

Driving down the long and lonely desert road from Death Valley towards Mammoth Mountain, we had to stop and capture this beautiful peachy pink sunset cascading down towards the mountains on the horizon, perfectly complimenting the orange and gold bushes that scattered across the desert floor like polkadots (I love these little bushes!  So fun to paint them as little dollops across the canvas.) 

This wasn't just a quick pull over.... we stayed on the side of the road taking pictures until the grand display completely ended.  This is one of the many things I love about lonely roads... you can just pull over and enjoy the scenery around you, as opposed to a busy city freeway.

Don’t you love how sunsets just keep becoming more and more epic by the second?  You think you’ve captured it, and are done taking pictures…….then, nope!  The photos never quite do it justice, though.  

That’s why I paint!

What is so breathtaking about the Grand Canyon is the vast array of color and light effects from the passing of the sun over all of it's crevices, nooks, curves and cliffs.  It's really so sexy! 

In my last blog, I talked about color gradients in nature, and how I utilize them in my paintings.  One of the most common gradients in nature occurs within the density of the atmosphere.  

Short, blue wavelengths of light are the most easily scattered by the particles in the atmosphere.  This is why the sky is blue, but it is also why the landscape in the distance appears more blue.  This is called aerial perspective.  There is a higher density of atmosphere between your eye and the distant horizon, so the further you can see, the more blue things will appear due to the density.

Since the rocks of the canyon are so red, the effect causes the rocks in between the closer crisp reds and the distant fuzzy blues to appear purple.  The light at the golden hour will shine directly on the area in front of, and next to you, illuminating the rocks in rich golden hues of orange and yellow.

In "Canyon Color", I highlighted this amazing gradient in order to fully utilize the power of the rainbow.  Remember, when we experience harmony with our senses, our hearts harmonize with it. 

We love it when we hear an amazing duet sing in harmony, when the aroma of different spices come together while cooking, or when a perfectly paired meal creates tasty explosions in our mouths.  Color gradients, harmonies, and contrasts gives us that same satisfying sensation that makes our hearts sing!

One element I am always looking for when I venture out to take photos for painting reference, is gradients.  If the scene has a clear gradient of colors, it will be much more interesting.  Noticing gradients in nature may take some training of the eye, because at times it can be very subtle.  But, once you can see them, the whole world suddenly becomes so rainbow!

In this painting entitled "Desert Pastel", I chose a composition from a photo I took while on the road in Arizona between the main attractions of the National Parks.  I love the beautiful pastel hues that emanate from the distant rock formations, and the plant life in the foreground.  But what really gets me, is the subtle rainbow gradient you can see from the sky all the way to the ground plane.

If you compare the painting to this rainbow gradient, you can see how the colors shift from one into the other in a gradual color shift from blue in the sky and mountain, to purple, to very subtle hints of pink and red, to orange and yellow tinted tans, to the light minty greens of the desert shrubs in front.

As I was painting this landscape, I started out using the more muted neutral colors that appear in the reference.  But, because I love brights   and juicy rainbow poppin' color, I decided to make some last minute changes by adding a bit of bright red, pink and orange in very small amounts to make the color really pop, and to push the rainbow gradient even further.  Now it's a painting that excites me!  As you can see in the side by side comparison, the change is very subtle, but it really makes a difference.

One of my favorite things to say when painting is, "when in doubt, use more rainbow!"