~ High Country ~

Work in progress

I'll be starting this painting using nothing but complete and total artistic license.

What I mean is I won't be utilizing any reference photos whatsoever throughout the landscape portion of this composition.

I'd like to have some wildlife within this piece somewhere, but where? At this point I just don't have a feeling as to where so I'll just have to wait a while and figure out what animals to add and then I'll figure out where they'll live within this "mindscape".

As you can see I'm changing my mind about compositional aspects here and there. I still have no concrete ideas yet and am still painting by feelings rather than tying myself down with the use of reference photos.

I felt as though the waterfall in the background was too centered, therefore it's been decided to move it off-center a bit.

I'm also toying with the idea of some clear water and therefore must paint what is underneath the water first before depicting highlight and other reflective colors.

I also broke out a palette knife and a small jar of modeling paste in order to punch up the texture in the gnarly foreground tree and rocks. Hmmm...looks like I may have gone a little crazy with it but a bit of sanding should allow me to regain some control over where this one is going.

I've decided to add a small flock of Wild Turkey to the left of the foreground tree and have just begun to lightly sketch them in. I don't want them to become the main focal point of the painting, I think the foreground tree does a good job at that, I'd like the flock to become a pleasant addition to the overall landscape but we'll just have to wait and see how this thing unfolds.

Oil on canvas 24 x 36