Out of the Blue

It's wonderful when everything works out as I planned.  I knew where I wanted to go and what kind of light to expect even the night before when a painter is already thinking of where to set up the next morning.  I arrived at Yaki Point just before sunrise, set up my gear, and waited for the sun to come roaring over the undulating edges of the Palisades.  And the first thing that light strikes is the upper edges of Zoroaster and Brahma Temples.  And that's exactly what happened.  I painted my whole canvas blue, then rubbed off the places where I wanted to paint the highlights and came back in with creamy-colored paint for the lit eastern-facing edges.