Stage 3 Knik River - Work up the mid ground

Mid Ground Area; Gravel, Main Trees, and the small trees on the right back.

Got to paint before the Football Games this morning.  Worked up the dark low treeline on the water in the distance.  Also added darks and lights to the gravel.  Worked up the right trees in the mid distance.  Then went to work on the main trees.  What fun to play with bright colors of fall.  

I have included a picture of the whole painting along with the picture I am working from.  I took this picture with my friend Don Kolstad when we were Plein Air Painting a few weeks ago.

 

100K Trees? Nope Just Implied Them

Stage 2 Knik River Painting - 16x20 on Gesso Panel - I finally got to paint after 6 days.  I more or less have finished the background.   Looks as if I painted a couple 100K trees, nope not a one, just implied the trees with color values.  Took about 3-4 hours to work the background up to my satisfaction.  Will work the mid ground next. Lots left to work on, but so far I am very pleased with how it is coming together.

Including a look into my small studio in the picture below, space is tight, so yes it is crowded. but it is home when I am creating.  Me and Oreo (my dog) head out and loose track of the hours when I turn on the stereo and paint.

Knik River - A Begining

Started a New Painting on Sunday - Sunday as I watched the football games in my studio I sketched out 5 paintings onto panels for painting.  Took most of the day to get them right.  I knew I wanted to start one and get a wash of color onto the panel.  Was a hard decision which one to start I like all the compositions.   But I decided since it was a Sunday and the image I was using was from a picture I tool Last Sunday. I would go ahead and work on this peaceful scene.  The view is towards the Chugach Mountains and Knik River in the distance.  this big flood plane area is a favorite for 4 wheelers, motocross bikes.  It was a nice hot fall day, I loved all the colors and how green the little pond was in the foreground.  The calm water shows the reflected colors of the trees so well.   I included the picture for you to see where I am taking the scene from.  This is just the start of the painting.  I just wanted to get a wash in for a reminder for me of the colors.  I intend to get the other paintings started also with washes then will work them up.  Not sure which will capture my desire as the artist, sometimes you are surprised which ones you can't leave alone.  Feels great to be painting again!!!