Sketch at Dawn

Dawn Core Creek Park  8x10 oil

On the drive to work each day I have been watching the landscape start to wake up from darkness to just being able to see the objects out there.
We have been in a warm spell this year so there has been a lot of hazy mornings with blue greys in the distance creating nice atmospheric conditions. On the way to work I'm on a highway so I don't have time to stop and take pictures so I have to try to remember what I see for later use.

This morning I went to Core Creek Park which is only 8-10 minutes away to try to capture the subtleties of dawn. I set up at a favorite spot and did my best to capture what was in front of me, unfortunately I was out of practice and made a mess of everything, so when I got home I adjusted the painting to what I remembered from the morning while it was still fresh in my mind.
The lake and the far shoreline values blended together creating one solid mass, there was a slight mist on the lake making the water ever so slightly lighter. I liked the thin reflection of the sky at the edge of the water separating land from water.

As I was cleaning up this morning an older couple pulled in next to me and the husband asked me where they could see a nice sunset. I told them the spot I use for painting sunsets which is at another park about 7 minutes away. He smiled and said, I told my wife a painter probably knows where good sunset viewing spots are.