Same scene, different weather conditions.

Autumn Color on a Cloudy Day, pastel, 11 x 14

Autumn Color in Sunlight, pastel, 11 x 14

In my Wed. and Thurs. classes we've been studying the effects of direct sunlight vs. cloudy conditions on the same scene. (See Sept. 15 post.) Our subject matter of a landscape with vivid autumn colors made a great study for this, allowing us to notice many differences between the two besides just brighter highlights, including differences in contrast, value range, and color temperature/saturation.  Autumn Color in Sunlight was shown in my Sept. 15 post; however, I've made some adjustments to it.  Autumn Color on a Cloudy Day was my demo from this past week.  After finishing the cloudy day version, I went back and forth between the two making minor tweaks to both. Although we usually hope for sunny conditions when painting outdoors or taking reference photos, cloudy conditions can often be dramatic and moody.  I think I actually like my cloudy day version better!