I was getting ready to start the new year out with a painting. I looked through a stack of old papers and found one that was a painting that I had started months ago and put it aside because I didn't like the way it was going. I had done a sketch but only painted the sky. On seeing it again I decided that it was not so bad and I may as well finish it. I think it came out pretty good. It's from a photo I took many years ago. We were camping at Twin Lakes near Bridgeport and I climbed up the moraine at the mouth of the canyon in the late afternoon and got a nice view of Matterhorn Peak.
I tried doing a painting from one of my photos at V6 ranch last November. It was late afternoon of the first day of the clinic and all of the riders had gone out for a ride out on the range. I followed on foot, just sauntering along enjoying the golden light through the trees. This scene caught my eye and at first I wished that the fallen branches weren't there in the foreground, but then decided that they were interesting too. I think it turned out to be one of my better paintings.
Another scene from V6. We were driving back to town in the late afternoon and the light was really pretty on the distant hills and I stopped for a photo. For the painting, I wanted to make the warm light of the hills stand out against the shaded foreground. I think it worked out pretty well.
