Click image to enlarge
12×16″, oil on hardboard, work in progress

When I arrived at the top of Kaaterskill Falls early this morning, the scene looked nothing like it does in the image above. In fact, the values were completely reversed, with the foreground completely in shadow! Heres the view I started with:

(Click image to enlarge.)

I really liked that dark foreground pulling the viewer into the light beyond. Within a couple of hours, the sun poked above the tree line and spilled light all over the delicious darks. It happened in an instant, and although I like the light foreground too, I decided to stick with my game plan, and return early tomorrow morning to complete the painting the way I had intended. The light foreground painting will have to wait for another day! With a little luck, this one will get finished tomorrow.

Click here to see the following day’s progress on the painting.

Posted by Jamie on Monday, June 16th, 2014 at 8:51 pm.