Sunrise: Morning Has Broken

Sunrise:

Morning Has Broken

The sun rises over distant hills casting a rosy glow across the landscape. The colors are slightly muted, more subtle than the colors of a sunset - a bright, cheerful hello at the beginning of a day in contrast to the vivid, dramatic colors announcing its end.
In order to preserve the luminosity of the colors, I worked this one in layers, gradually building them up from very thin to thicker paint.  It was done is a somewhat looser style than my animal and wildlife paintings without so much attention to detail.
The colors themselves are a fairly standard selection - ultramarine with a little cerulean blue and lots of white for the sky, more white, cad yellow hue and a little ochre for the sun, and just a tiny bit of crimson and even more white where the sun meets the blue sky.  The earth was painted in ochres and umbers, with a bit of raw sienna. I am experimenting with  a new addition to my personal palette -quinacridone burnt orange.  Not new, but new to me and it is working out well so far.
Occasionally adding new colors to my working collection is a good way to keep me from becoming bored - and therefore boring. It can be overdone, of course, but a little change now and then keeps me going.
I gave the painting the title of a favorite song, Morning Has Broken. You may be familiar with Cat Stevens' version of it, My favorite is by Michael Card.

This and many other paintings are available through my gallery

The Creative Spirit, Art by Della Burgus