The End, Winter Warming Up, and Yellowstone

Yellowstone Waterfall, 9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

I love Yellowstone park. This is the lower falls, which is such a powerful place to be. The landscape is big and active there…

Last week I finished up the final painting for my current project: Winter, 48 x 72 inches, oil. Click the image to zoom in.

I finished out the trees on the treeline and added a big pine in the foreground. If you click to zoom in, you will see the geese swimming and a warm cabin over the hill. This painting will be on the far left, with a door to the left of it. Its compositional job is to 1) draw you in, in a peaceful joyful way, and 2) to make it easy to move from this painting to the Spring painting, to the right.

This completes the four paintings I’ve been working on for the last three months!

My last week was spent on finishing touches: sides, signatures, figuring out safe boxing for transportation, final touches…

This weekend I’m trying to decide whether to pre-install the z-clamps for hanging, or wait and do it onsite, to allow for adjustments.

Monday should prove exciting! I’m already nervous. I am excited about seeing them in their permanent home. But also, I have never spent three months exclusively on one painting project; it’s a little hard to say goodbye to the rhythm of working on these paintings.

I still have some time before my next commission starts, so you’ll be seeing a lot of South Dakota paintings (and at least one Wyoming painting – above). Over the last few months, while collecting source photos for the project, I collected a lot of painting ideas that will now make their way onto canvas.

Feedback welcome.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.