It was a little bit intimidating to take the jump and try a landscape! My subjects are animals, often with little to no background. I've never had to consider aerial perspective before! But I really wanted to try out these ideas, so I got a photograph of a cat taken at sunset from Saill White on the Free Reference Photos for Artists Facebook group and gave it a shot.

I intentionally simplified the cat into a silhouette to prevent myself from fixating on it. I did my first painting (third and fourth below) using Dioxazine Violet from M. Graham. I used this color for two reasons. First, it has a very dark value in mass tone, so it would be easier to get the dark values in the painting. Second, M. Graham paints are made with honey and rewet like a dream. It would make it easier for me to limit my water and again, get the darker values.

My second painting was made with three paints, all by Daniel Smith - French Ultramarine, Quinacridone Rose, and New Gamboge. These colors gave me a lot of mixing options, though it was a bit challenging to get the three pigments mixed right to get a lovely black. 

I'm both surprised and happy that I like my second painting better. I didn't get all the values right - I should have made my meadow darker, and had a darker segment of Rose in the sky (I was surprised to see how quickly the sky jumped from dark to light in the desaturated picture). I probably also should have desaturated the pigments used to make the setting look darker/like an actual sunset. Learning how to paint clouds would help, too - I've never painted clouds before! But for a first-time landscape, I'm not going to complain! :)