a high key experiment

This was a bit of an experiment i did while in Callaway Gardens. I figured there would be a lot of paintings of azaleas there since that's what the gardens are known for and when you are in the gardens you paint flowers. I decided to zag a little. Having gotten a slightly late start, which for me is still early, I drove around looking for something unusual. I passed this spot 3 times, went down various roads, stopped and looked here and there for the magic spot and pretty much wasted the prime time looking for something special. I knew I wanted to do a 12x24 and also knew that because the morning light was waning I would have to try something different with the color. The soft warm light was being replaced with a harder cooler cast. So I went for a high-key approach in order to control the outcome and keep it light. How do you do that, you might ask? You start with your darkest dark in the painting (the tree trunks) mixed at a higher key (lighter) than it really is, then every color after that will have to be lighter in value. It was a fun experiment, though the color went a little primary/secondary and it stood out a tad from my other paintings because of it. Probably what I will do is give it a nice warming glaze to reduce the intensity of the cools and then rework it a little to bring it back to my usual. I have it in a gold frame but will probably put it in a black frame.. Light paintings look better in darker frames.