As some of you already know, i’ve been trying to get a better grip on painting aspen trees. They are so common in Colorado, and so interesting and lovely, in all seasons. Especially in the fall, though, is when they just shine. With this painting, because the background is so dark, i decided to use a black panel (canvas). I haven’t yet finished painting the dark trees in the background forest, but i think you can get a good idea of where i’m going with this one — almost there! Location is near Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado, in September, at almost the peak of color for the Aspens (see reference photo, below).

This painting depicts a scene from a plein air painting trip i took in early October of this year, to the southern mountains in Colorado — about a 4-hour drive from my home. It’s a beautiful mountainous area very close to Wolf Creek Pass. We had hoped to be there when there would be a lot of fall color from the Aspens and other trees, and we really lucked out — hit the peak of the color season! I did a value study first and spent more time than i wanted to on blocking in phase. So then i wanted to get going a little faster and decided to play with painting with a palette knife instead of with a brush. My goal was to get the feel of the place without getting too caught up in details. I’m not experienced enough with the knife to worry about detail, so that issue worked out fine. This is all studio work.The painting is still wet, which is why there is some distortion throughout, especially in the sky. In terms of the knife vs. the brush — almost everything on the right side of the painting was done with the knife. The mountains, hills, evergreens and building on the left side of the piece were done with brush. 11” x 14”, oil on panel.