It’s hard for me to enjoy the beautiful scenery of western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota at the end of August without being reminded of great landscape paintings. Invariably, I feel the itch to get out and paint myself. I always temper this urge by telling myself that I will just do, “some quick oil sketches.”
That’s what I told myself the other day before starting this 12×12″ painting, but three sessions later I’m still working on it.
The background is roughed in, and some conifers as well in the middle ground
The end of day 1 painting, all of the white space is killed, which helps the eye focus on color relationships
End of the second day’s session. Most of the major objects are blocked in. After the paint dries for several days I will work glazes in and use more of James Groves’ “Cole’s Copal Varnish” in the paint, which allows thick applications for highlights and details, without paint slumping