OK enough with Antarctica and ice and snow and so much white and gray. I needed a new palette and decided fall colors in Colorado would definitely fit the bill. So i’ve begun a new painting. Reference photo is from a hike we took in Golden Canyon Gate Canyon State Park a few weeks ago. This is a gorgeous area at about 8-9,000 feet only about 1/2 hour from our home — wonderful hiking trails, views, etc. We were there late afternoon and when looking west the trees were backlit with sunlight — just beautiful. So i’m attaching the reference photo and my beginning efforts. I changed the composition so that the two large trees would not be so centered. That meant the large evergreen on the far right would have to go. Obviously this project is going to require quite a number of layers, which is why i need to wait till i finish working on some of the background to put in all the large branches. Below are attached the original photo; the edited photo and the start of the painting.

A few days ago i decided i was really sick of the particular blue color i’d been using for water and sky. So i repainted those areas with hues that are more blue-gray and also a little darker. I also repainted a few of the rocks on the upper left part of the land so that they were less regular/same. Also added some more floating ice pieces arranged more in a diagonal than straight horizontal, as most had been initially. I’m attaching photo from last week and also one from today to show especially the differences in water/sky color. (Note ; new way of comparing photos – i’ve not tried this before. Hopefully you can move back and forth between the two photos.)

For the past few painting sessions i worked on refining the rocks so that there was more differentiation between them and so the shapes looked more life-like (i.e., rock-like). Also worked on the water, trying to get the waves and all the little floating ice pieces to be more realistic.

Also worked on the building, and finally decided to try (once again !) to get the windows to “work”. And once again, it’s’ not happening.

Finally i decided to practice painting penguins. I knew i was going to have difficulty getting them small enough — among other things. In photos, penguins often look much bigger than they are in real life. Most of the species are really pretty small.