A View of the Huachuca Mountains

Last night I spent a few hours finishing up the pastel that I started the previous evening with a watercolor underpainting.

A View of the Huachuca Mountains, 11.5" x 8.25" in pastel on 140lb watercolor paper

The challenge was to capture the foreground plants in what feels like high contrast light while giving the mountains a sense of distance.  The blobby foreground plants did not entirely work, but they are not complete failures either.  I needed to leave a few more "holes" in them to allow the ground color to shine through.  I probably also needed a few distinquishable branches.

I had a good time creating it and, more importantly, my wife likes it.  If I were giving myself a grade, it would be a B.  I can do better, but I am pretty happy with just doing some art.