Sonoran Skies

Just got back from a trip down to southern Arizona and the Sonoran Desert. One of the challenges of painting the desert is capturing the unique quality of the light. The air can be very clear making distant features seem almost unnaturally sharp. One of my favorite 'tricks' for creating a greater sense of depth and distance is to vary the values between foreground, middle-ground and background. In the above sketch, the foreground is in deep afternoon shadow, with the middle-ground in full sunlight contrasting against the shadowy distant mountains. The bright sunlight striking the top of the cactus lends drama to the piece while creating a visual focal point or center of interest. The sky is soft and relaxing to contrast with the sharper features of the land, and the clouds provide strong diagonals to draw the viewer into the scene.

© Dave Wilder