Mountain Messages-"Mountain Secrets"

Here is another phase of Mountain Secrets. I added more color and worked on the composition creating a lake and pushing the mountains back further into the background. Adding more lights and darks. I am not happy with the stark edge of the lake and the line it creates in the lower 3rd of the image. I love the atmosphere of the sky and the mountains. I also need a focal point and will create that where the two horizontal lines of the lake and the lower shaped mountains converge. I also am thinking of adding clouds and softening the mountains even more. The colors in the foreground are too strong and there are no shapes that make your eye travel throughout the piece. So, I continue to ask, "What if....?" and search more of what I can do to make it better. I let it sit for weeks and let it "cook" hanging in my studio. I study, look, listen, let it be...

So, here is the finished piece! I added a river instead! Ha! I am happy with this one. It looks very colorful in reality and with the added 3 coats of gloss varnish, I must say, it looks pretty cool!

I am working on another one for this series that is coming along nicely. I will post that soon, too! Thanks for visiting my blog!

October brings COLOR!

Oh, how I love October! The colors here in Minnesota are just starting to burst and pretty soon there will be an explosion of color. It inspires me to paint more boldly and with more color.

As you can see on the left is the beginning colored paint-sketch of "Mountain Secrets" to add to my Mountain Messages Series.

This one was challenging. I did not know where "it" was going to take me. Yes, paintings talk to me sometimes! In this photo, I have reversed the image because I wanted to see what it would look like with the main mountains on the left. Ugh!! I do not like it at all! And thank goodness, that is not how I had planned it from the beginning. I first started "paint-sketching" this with the mountains on the right using just my fingers and paper towel, (I love VIVA!). Keeping with this series, I pushed my paints, (Golden Acylics), around on a 12"x12"x2" canvas being careful not to blend the colors too much. I used a small brush here and there for some tiny detail. My plan was mountains, sky, and a lake. I wanted to keep simple shapes and have brilliant colors dominate the piece.

I have since completed the painting and will post it this weekend. You will not believe how different it looks. I really am happy about this one! It is very colorful, bold and fresh. Come back soon and see the completed painting! I will Blog more about my thoughts during my painting process. For right now? I'm going out for a long walk and enjoy October's colors!!