Golden Hour Temperature Study

 

11/10/26 Derwent Drawing pencils in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook (photo reference)

An atmospheric river has moved in, which gives me opportunity to make more studies from photos for Pencilvember. I so enjoyed thinking and writing about my process a few days ago that I decided to do it again. This time it’s less about pigment application and composition and more about color temperature, which I hadn’t actively thought about in a long time. The last time was probably in Sarah Bixler’s workshop more than a year ago. As much as the subject intrigues me, I haven’t internalized the thinking process, so my pea brain can’t handle practicing on location when efficiency is my priority, and I’m often distracted. If I keep studying from photos, perhaps someday the process will come more intuitively.

Reference photo taken in September during a golden-hour walk.

The reference photo is one I love – all that backlighting! I took it in September during one of the season’s last golden-hour walks (it’s always bittersweet when the time after dinner becomes too short for doing anything outdoors).

My first step was to make blocks of color based on temperature (stage 1, below). The backlighting created strong contrasts between the warm, sunlit edges and the cooler silhouettes they surrounded.

Stage 1: Color temperature block-in

In Stage 2, I used mostly a Grape Derwent Drawing pencil to work on values. I also figured out how I wanted to abstract most of the parked cars on the left side of the street. I wanted contrast between the sharp silhouette of the focal-point car and the other vague ones.

Stage 2: Values

To finish, I intensified all the colors and values. (This stage is always the fun and rewarding part – the thinking is done, and now it’s just coloring!)

Looking back at my palette of six pencils, I didn’t need the warmer green (and barely used it). Yellow and pale blue, the two temperature extremes, set the stage, but purple ended up doing most of the value work. Although technically it’s warmer than the light blue, it’s also the most neutral and ideal for the darkest areas (as is often the case). In retrospect, I realize that while I was working out color temperature, I was simultaneously doing my now-usual thing of using hues as values. (I think I’ve been using that latter principle long enough now that I have internalized it, so I don’t have to think about it as much.)

One thing I like about this palette is that when I layered all the hues somewhat indiscriminately toward the end, they all neutralized beautifully. It’s (rare) times like this when I really feel like a painter with my pencils.